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Trump media hired a new controller over the weekend after her previous public accounting firm was accused on Friday of committing massive fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The owner of Truth Social fired BF Borgers CPA after the SEC accused the firm of failing to perform due diligence on its clients before signing more than 1,500 regulatory filings for public companies.
Trump’s media reported that they were engaged Semple, Marchal & Cooper LLP on Saturday to replace BF Borgers.
As part of its settlement with the regulator, BF Borgers and its owner agreed to a permanent ban on controlling public companies.
The ban required Trump Media and other public companies that had used BF Borgers to find new auditors.
“The decision to change independent registered public accounting firms was made with the recommendation and approval of the Company’s Audit Committee,” Trump Media said Monday in an 8-K filing to announce its new auditor.
Former President Donald Trump owns 65% of Trump Media, which trades under the ticker DJT, also his initials.
A spokesman for Trump Media did not immediately respond Monday when CNBC asked if the company plans to ask Semple, Marchal & Cooper to review previous work done by BF Borgers to determine whether the company violated industry auditing standards in case of Trump Media.
Semple, Marchal & Cooper had no immediate comment. The Phoenix-based firm’s website said the auditor in its four decades of operation “has become a prominent and highly respected certified public accounting firm.”
The SEC called BF Borgers a “bogus audit mill” in its political regulatory action, accusing the Lakewood, Colorado-based company and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, of “deliberately” and “systematically” failing to conduct audits and quarterly reviews according to the public. accounting firm standards.
More than 500 public SEC filings were affected by Borgers’ systemic failure to properly vet its clients, the commission said Friday.
Financial information signed by Borgers was incorporated into more than 1,500 SEC filings dating from early 2021 to mid-2023.
BF Borgers and its owner agreed to pay a total of $14 million in penalties.
Trump Media was not yet publicly traded at the time of the alleged conduct by BF Borgers. But the company was acting as Trump Media’s controller at the time.
Trump Media stock became publicly traded on March 26 after the company completed a merger with its previously publicly traded shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp.
The SEC also said Friday that reports filed by companies that used BF Borgers “do not necessarily need to be amended solely because of” the commission’s cease-and-desist order.
“However, issuers should consider whether their filings may need to be amended to address any reporting deficiencies resulting from the BF Borgers engagement,” the SEC said.
In its filing with the SEC on Monday, Trump Media said: “BF Borgers’ audit reports on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 did not contain an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion and were not qualified or modified as to the scope of the audit or the accounting principles.”
“During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 and the subsequent interim period through the date of this report, there were no disputes, as that term is defined in section 304(a)(1)(iv) of the Regulation SC. , between the Company and BF Borgers on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or audit scope or procedure, which disputes, if not resolved to the satisfaction of BF Borgers, would have caused BF Borgers to refer to such discrepancies in his audit reports,” Trump Media said in the filing.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.