Audit firm Marcum said it decided to step down down as auditor of Digital World Acquisition, which is trying to take Donald Trump’s media company public after its client settled US regulator fraud charges in July.
The decision was “primarily in response to concerns regarding the Company’s management and governance structure following its July 20, 2023 settled order with the Commission,” the audit firm said in a letter it sent to the SEC on Aug. 15. Marcum had concerns about management and governance at the SPAC, Bloomberg reports.
Digital World in July settled SEC charges that it misled the public by failing to disclose that it had formulated a plan to acquire Trump’s company prior to the SPAC’s IPO. Digital World will have to pay an $18 million penalty if the deal closes, the SEC said.
Digital World said it aims to complete its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs the Truth Social platform, by year-end.
The SPAC disclosed Aug. 1 that Marcum quit as auditor without giving the company any notice and without completing work on the SPAC’s 2022 year-end financial statement, which had errors in how the company accounted for expenses that needed to be corrected.
Auditor change alerts are usually routine, boilerplate affairs. Digital World’s Aug. 1 filing was not. Read more.
