The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed and settled charges last week against Friedman LLP, the former auditing firm of stablecoin issuer Tether, finding “serial violations of the federal securities laws” and numerous instances of “improper professional conduct,” according to an order published Monday.
In the SEC’s investigation of Friedman LLP’s audits of two publicly traded companies, Chinese grocery chain iFresh and another, unnamed company, the auditor was found to have lied about conducting its audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
The SEC’s order, issued Friday, details sloppy accounting practices that were common at Friedman LLP from 2015 to 2020, including its failure to “respond to fraud risks” and “exercise due professional care and professional skepticism,” among other things, the order said.
Source: Tether’s Former Auditor Fined $1M by SEC for Sloppy Accounting
