The accountant hired to audit former President Donald Trump’s social media company seemed to have a lot of trouble spelling his name, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Ben F Borgers, the founder and managing partner of the accounting firm BF Borgers, spelled his name in 14 different ways in regulatory filings, the Financial Times reported, citing data it had reviewed from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
Some variations, like Ben F Brogers and Ben F orgers, appeared to be minor spelling mistakes. But others, like Blake F Borgers and Ben F Vonesh, were entirely different names.
Representatives for BF Borgers and Trump Media & Technology Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.
These spelling snafus aren’t the first time Borgers’ work has been scrutinized.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said it identified multiple deficiencies in every audit it had received from Borgers’ accounting firm in the past two years, Bloomberg reported on April 8.
In November, Borgers’ firm was also removed from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ peer review program.
BF Borgers, the organization said, was “so seriously deficient in its performance that education and remedial, corrective actions are not adequate.”
Trump Media & Technology Group engaged BF Borgers as its auditor in January 2022, after their previous auditor, WithumSmith+Brown, quit just months after being appointed.
WithumSmith+Brown quit because the firm no longer wanted to be associated with Trump and his company, the Financial Times reported on April 15, citing people familiar with the matter.
The news surrounding Borgers’ spotty record comes as Trump Media’s stock price continues to tumble since its debut in late March.
Trump Media shares had initially soared when it went public, only to crash by nearly 40% in a matter of weeks. The roller coaster ride that Trump Media’s stock prices have taken has also sent Trump’s net worth swinging up and down.
At one point, Trump’s net worth went up by over $4 billion when the shares rallied. But Trump’s gains were quickly erased when the stock went into free fall, booting him off of Forbes’ list of the world’s 500 wealthiest people.
Although Trump wouldn’t have been able to sell his shares due to a six-month lockup period, the windfall would have boosted his flailing finances. The former president’s legal debts have been growing since he left office.
On April 1, Trump posted a $175 million bond for his New York civil fraud case. He also owes E. Jean Carroll, a writer that a jury ruled last year he had sexually abused, $83.3 million in defamation damages.
Trump’s legal troubles, however, don’t end there.
On April 15, Trump appeared in a Manhattan court for his first criminal trial, where he’s been accused of falsifying his business records to cover up a sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels. The trial is ongoing.
Trump has also been charged in three other criminal cases, including two federal cases relating to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and another on accusations that he hoarded classified documents in Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. All three cases do not have firm trial dates set yet.
