Trump Media auditor quit just months after appointment

WithumSmith+Brown resigned as the auditor for Donald Trump’s media company just months after being appointed, according to the Financial Times. Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) appointed the company as auditor shortly after it was founded in 2021. By the end of the year the accounting firm decided it did not want to be associated with a business venture by the former US president. Withum’s resignation came after New York’s attorney-general launched a civil investigation that led to the indictment and conviction of the Trump Organization for fraud. TMTG was also investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2021 for the trading in shares of the cash shell through which it planned to go public As a result TMTG is using BF Borgers. Borgers was engaged on January 22 2022 for a fee of $150,000 (£120,492) for the first annual audit, according to an internal document seen by the Financial Times. BF Borgers has targeted small and microcap companies unwilling or unable to engage larger, more expensive firms. As a result, the company has built the eighth-largest client list of any US audit firm despite only having 10 certified public accountants on its staff. The firm has one of the worst inspection records among the hundreds of audit firms overseen by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the US. It has also been barred from taking on new clients in Canada for failing to meet professional standards in public company audits.