Andrew Kelly/Reuters/File
Headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, DC, USA, May 12, 2021. Photographed on May 12, 2021.
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CNN
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BF Borgers, the Trump Media & Technology Group’s independent accounting firm, was indicted Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission on widespread fraud charges and accused of running a “fake audit factory.”
The SEC has not brought any wrongdoing allegations against Truth Social’s owner, Trump Media (DJT), but the regulator’s complaint does not mention that.
The SEC accused BF Borgers of “deliberate and systematic failures,” including “fabricating” audit documents and misrepresenting to clients that its operations complied with accounting standards.
The agency described this as a “massive” fraud that occurred between January 2021 and June 2023 and affected more than 1,500 SEC filings and more than 500 publicly traded companies. .
The SEC imposed stiff fines on BF Borgers, and the agency permanently suspended him from practicing as an accountant for the company, effective immediately. The company and owner Benjamin Borgers also agreed to pay a total of $14 million in fines.
“Boger and his fake audit factory have been shut down forever,” Gurbir Grewal, head of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a press release.
Publicly traded companies that hire BF Borger will need to find a new accounting firm, the SEC warned companies in a separate statement Friday.
Trump Media has announced plans to do just that.
“Trump Media looks forward to complying with today’s SEC order and working with our new audit partners,” Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine told CNN in a statement.
Borgers served as Trump Media’s independent registered public accounting firm before the social media company went public in March, according to the filing. In late March, Trump Media’s audit committee approved the hiring of Borgers as its public company’s accounting firm.
Trump Media may be BF Borgers’ most high-profile client, but the agency said it had 350 clients during this period and was subject to SEC rules.
Because the SEC’s review focused only on public companies, it did not include BF Borgers’ work at Trump Media, which was private.
BF Borgers did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump Media is chaired and majority-owned by former President Donald Trump, who is also Truth Social’s most popular user.
Despite Trump Media achieving a Wall Street valuation of more than $9 billion, the company generates little revenue, making Truth Social a relatively small player in the social media world. It’s staying.
Truth Social’s average daily active users in the U.S. on iOS and Android fell 19% year over year to 113,000 in April, according to data intelligence firm Similarweb. X, the app formerly known as Twitter, has over 300 times more users than him.
The SEC found that at least 75% of the 369 BF Borger clients that submitted public filings that incorporated BF Borger’s audits and reviews were not in compliance with accounting standards.
This isn’t the first time BF Borgers or its founders have gotten into trouble.
Dating back to 2019, Colorado regulators have repeatedly brought disciplinary action against Borger.
Last year, the International Institute of Certified Public Accountants fired BF Borgers in a peer review program because the company’s “performance was found to be so materially deficient that training, remediation, and remedial action were inadequate.”
Trump Media announced in late March that BF Borgers would become the company’s certified public accountant.
