A smartphone displays the logo of Donald Trump’s Truth Social app on March 25, 2024.
Anna Barclay | Getty Images
Trump media on Monday provided an updated audit of the company’s finances by a newly hired accounting firm after its last auditor was charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shares of Trump Media ended the trading day down more than 5%.
The media company, majority owned by former President Donald Trump and trading on the Nasdaq as DJT, said its revised registration statement includes a re-examination by Phoenix, Arizona-based Semple, Marchal & Cooper, LLP.
The company behind social media platform Truth Social said in a press release that its latest filing amends a mid-April registration statement and does not offer any new shares.
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“I would like to thank SMC for serving as our independent auditor and allowing us to file an amended registration statement that we hope the SEC will promptly review,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the release .
Trump Media hired Semple, Marchal & Cooper, LLP in early May, replacing its previous auditor, BF Borgers CPA. Three days before Trump Media announced the move, the SEC charged BF Borgers with “massive fraud” involving more than 1,500 filings.
The federal regulator accused the “sham audit factory” of failing to adhere to established auditing standards and falsely deceiving customers that its work met those standards.
The SEC said BF Borgers and its owner Benjamin Borgers agreed to pay a total of $14 million in civil penalties and submit to a permanent ban from auditing publicly traded companies.
Despite Monday’s stock drop, Trump Media has a market capitalization of nearly $7.5 billion, which critics say is disproportionate to the meager revenue the company says it has generated.
Data shows that the company’s sole product, Truth Social, appears to be struggling to retain its user base, which already generates only a tiny fraction of the traffic enjoyed by established social media giants like X and Facebook.
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2024-06-10 20:09:24
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