BDO US will appeal a Florida Court ruling to
pay $91m in damages over allegedly concealing information during an
audit of bankrupt real estate company Grand Court.
BDO has been ordered by a Florida Court to pay
$55m in punitive damages and $36m in compensatory damages for
helping to cover up problems with the financial statements of Grand
Court, a company George Batchelor had invested in.
When Batchelor died in 2002 his estate and
foundation filed the lawsuit against BDO and original auditor
Deloitte.
In 2000, publicly listed real estate company
Grand Court went bankrupt. Batchelor’s attorney Steven Thomas
claimed Grand Court had sought a new audit opinion on its financial
statements when it was unable to get a clean opinion from
Deloitte.
BDO said it “strongly” disagrees with jury’s
decision “as there were numerous reversible errors made by the
court during this trial” and “BDO’s audits of Grand Court conformed
to all generally accepted auditing standards”.
BDO claims Grand Court was only a brief client
of the firms New York office in the late 1990s. The company said in
a sworn deposition prior to his death Batchelor had not mentioned
BDO among a list of professionals and associates he relied on in
making his decision to invest in Grand Court.
The firm added the vast majority of
Batchelor’s investments took place prior to BDO issuing its audit
opinion on 3 May 1999 with Batchelor Foundation’s sole investment
taking place seven months before BDO was hired and more than a year
before an audit was issued.
According to media reports, Deloitte settled
with the Batchelor Foundation.
