‘Sham audit mill’: SEC fines, permanently suspends BF Borgers

Accounting fraud

BF Borgers was all but shuttered by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday after the agency accused the firm of massive fraud impacting more than 1,500 SEC filings audited over a 2 1/2-year span.

BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, agreed to be permanently suspended from appearing and practicing before the commission as accountants, effective immediately, as part of a settlement, the SEC announced in a press release. The firm was fined $12 million, while Borgers agreed to pay a $2 million penalty.

“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in the release.

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