CohnReznick LLP agreed to pay $1.9 million and limit its acceptance of new audit clients to settle SEC charges that the firm didn’t properly respond to accounting red flags from two clients—fashion company Sequential Brands Group Inc. and blockchain firm Longfin Corp.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission also charged the firm’s national assurance managing partner Robert G. Hilbert and two other partners for improper professional conduct in the 2017 audit of Sequential. Hilbert, Stephen Wyss, and Stephen Jackson relied too heavily on arguments from the company’s management that it didn’t need to impair the value of the goodwill ...