Author: openjargon

• The Senate passed a $95 billion spending package that included aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
• The aid, particularly for Ukraine, could boost the US economy and create American jobs.
• Cities in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Illinois, and Florida, among other states, could see increased spending

On April 23, the Senate passed a $95 billion spending package that included foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

That funding could also soon provide a boost to the US economy — and help create American jobs.

That's because much of the military aid — particularly the money allocated for Ukraine — could flow back to US defense manufacturers. In fact, an analysis of financial aid to Ukraine published in October by the website Breaking Defense found that a majority of the billions of dollars in Ukraine aid Congress had approved to date was ultimately spent in the US.

A Washington Post analysis published in November identified more than 100 production lines in roughly 30 states and 70 cities where US workers were producing weapons systems for Ukraine — including California, Arizona, Alabama, and Texas. US aid to Ukraine has created thousands of jobs across at least 38 states, Time reported in February.

In recent years, some lawmakers have argued that the US should scale back the money it's providing to Ukraine — and that the funds would be better spent on domestic problems. To the extent foreign aid benefits US-based businesses and workers, the political calculus could change for some in Congress.

To be sure, some Americans may wish these funds were being directed to other priorities, like making housing and childcare more affordable for citizens. Others may be concerned about the ways defense companies, through lobbying efforts, could be influencing legislation that benefits the industry.

What cities and states could benefit from the new aid bill?

The spending package, which President Joe Biden intends to sign, would provide about $61 billion for Ukraine to aid its war effort against Russia and $26 billion for Israel, which is engaged in a war with Hamas in Gaza. An additional $8 billion would go to Taiwan to help it counter threats from China. The Senate approved the spending package with a 79 to 18 vote — the House approved it on April 20.

Roughly $1 billion of the aid could soon be making its way to Ukraine, which the Biden administration says is in urgent need of support as it struggles to combat the advances of Russian forces. The Ukraine aid is expected to be used to provide ammunition, artillery rounds, armored vehicles, and other weapons, the Associated Press reported. The rest could be doled out in the weeks ahead.

While it's unclear exactly which cities and states will benefit from the latest foreign aid funds, some candidates are more likely than others.

In its analysis, The Washington Post pointed to cities like York, Pennsylvania — where British multinational aerospace, defense, and information security company BAE Systems produces tactical vehicles — and Troy, Alabama, where Javelin antitank missiles are manufactured, as places that have produced weapons for Ukraine. Peoria, Illinois; Aiken, South Carolina; Elgin, Oklahoma; Niceville, Florida; and Endicott, New York were also mentioned.

Weapons production can require more than one city to work in tandem. Manufacturing artillery ammunition, for example, can involve a Scranton, Pennsylvania factory producing empty projectiles and then sending them to Iowa, where they are filled with explosives, The New York Times reported.

In June, the defense company General Dynamics is set to open a new factory in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, where artillery casings will be produced. The factory, which is expected to employ 150 people when it opens, is expected to benefit from foreign aid to Ukraine.

Are you working for a defense company? Has your company increased hiring in recent years? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

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• Cherie Tobias, 48,  lives above the poverty line but struggles to afford necessities, like food.
• She's considered an ALICEs  — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
• Tobias makes $25,064 as an Applebee's server but can't pay for medicine and electricity.

Cherie Tobias, 48, hasn't been grocery shopping in over a year because she can't afford it.

She's a server at an Applebee's in Hastings, Michigan, and works at least 40 hours a week for $25,064 annually, per documents viewed by Business Insider. Still, Tobias said people "aren't tipping like they used to," and most of the time, she can only afford one meal a day.

As the main income earner for her household, Tobias works to support her 19-year-old son, her fiancé, and her fiancé's mother. She struggles to pay her bills and typically is only able to eat something when she uses her employee discount at Applebee's or has enough money to buy a few stand-alone ingredients at a time from the store.

Tobias said her financial situation makes her feel "hopeless, desperate, defeated, and ready to give up." Still, because her income technically places her above the federal poverty line, she doesn't qualify for government assistance.

"I make too much to get help," she told Business Insider.

Tobias is one of a growing number of Americans who are ALICEs — people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Many ALICEs make too much money to qualify for government assistance programs like SNAP benefits but don't make enough to afford daily life in the US comfortably.

The federal poverty line is $20,440 a year for a family of two, and is not adjusted to reflect cost-of-living differences in individual cities or states. Many ALICEs live paycheck to paycheck.

About 29% of US households are ALICEs, compared to 13% of Americans who live below the federal poverty level, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey data and cost-of-living estimates analyzed by United Way's United For ALICE program.

And, guaranteed basic-income programs — which are being tried in cities across the US — typically only apply to families living below the poverty line.

For Tobias, her economic position feels like being stuck in a cycle of asking for help that never arrives.

"I don't want to be rich," she said. "I just want to be able to get by comfortably without the stress."

Tobias works full-time but struggles to afford utilities and healthcare

Electricity and mortgage bills are Tobias' top expenses. Her fiancé is disabled, and all of his disability payments go toward paying for the couple's house.

Tobias said she is responsible for covering her family's other needs, and she just received a "shutoff notice" for her electricity in the mail. She's hoping to file for state emergency relief so she can keep her lights on.

Because of a car accident a few years ago, Tobias also has health issues. She has Medicaid, but her income level means she doesn't qualify for strong coverage.

And, any financial assistance she had from pandemic relief funds is no longer available, she said.

Applebee's doesn't provide Tobias with health insurance and she can't afford her own plan — she estimates she spends $2,000 on out-of-pocket healthcare costs a month, which includes buying prescription medications. On her last trip to the pharmacy, Tobias said she was only able to afford one of the three prescriptions she needed.

Soon, if she can afford it, Tobias hopes to move her family out of Michigan and find stability somewhere else. She has a college degree and has submitted almost 50 job applications but hasn't been hired yet.

Stability for Tobias would mean opening the cupboard knowing there's food there for the day, she said. She would also be grateful to go to the pharmacy and pick up all of her necessary medicine in one trip.

She wishes there was more support for people in economic positions like hers.

"We need help, especially those of us that are trying to go to work every day," Tobias said. "No matter how we feel, no matter how much pain we're in, we're going to try to push through to provide — but we go home defeated."

Are you making above the poverty line but still struggling to afford daily life? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.

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• A UK couple found a trove of 17th-century coins during a home renovation.
• The collection includes Elizabeth I silver shillings and Charles I gold coins.
• More evidence that a home might be hiding an amazing and valuable secret.

A UK couple's home renovation project turned into a profitable venture when they discovered a $75,000 treasure trove under their kitchen floor.

Robert and Betty Fooks were renovating their farmhouse in southern England when they found a valuable collection of 17th-century coins concealed beneath their kitchen.

Fooks' South Poorton Farm is a 17th-century cottage located in a small hamlet in West Dorset.

The couple purchased the long house in 2019 and removed the modern concrete floor during their extensive renovation.

The coins were discovered while digging down two feet to expand the downstairs area.

The discovery is the latest in historic and valuable discoveries made accidentally in people's backyards, basements, underfloors, behind walls, and in attics, and evidence that your home could be hiding an amazing secret.

Betty Fooks, an NHS health visitor, told the Guardian: "It is a 400-year-old house, so there was lots of work to do. We were taking all the floors and ceilings out and took it back to its stone walls.

"One evening, my husband was digging with a pick ax when he called to say they've found something. He put all the coins in a bucket. If we hadn't lowered the floor, they would still be hidden there," she said.

The collection was handed to the British Museum for identification and cleaning.

Dukes Auctioneers said on its website that the British Museum believes the coins were deposited on one occasion around 1642-4. The English Civil War began around this time, and the area around Poorton experienced much conflict.

The "Poorton coin hoard" comprising 1,000 coins went under the hammer on April 23 at Duke's Auctioneers.

The collection, which includes Elizabeth I silver shillings, Charles I gold unite coins, James I silver sixpence coins, and more, was estimated to have a value of £35,000, or $43,600, before the auction.

However, the cache surpassed expectations when it sold for £60,000 ( $75,000), the BBC reports.

The Fooks couple said the money would help pay off their mortgage, per the BBC.

Business Insider contacted Duke's Auctioneers for comment.

Spectacular discoveries

In 2019, a similar discovery was made by another couple in England.

A hoard of 264 coins English gold coins from 1610-1727 was unearthed by an unnamed couple digging up their kitchen floor.

The trove was believed to have been once owned by a family of traders who made their fortunes in Baltic trading.

The collection sold at auction in 2022 for £754,000, or $842,330.

Small and easy to hide, coins feature in many of the secret troves unsuspecting homeowners have stumbled upon. Other lost artifacts have ranged from first editions of superhero comics to rare vintage cars.

But one of the most spectacular discoveries was an Italian Renaissance 16th-century masterpiece hidden under an old matress in an attic in France in 2014.

The "Judith Beheading Holofernes," believed to be a canvas by Caravaggio, was later sold for $170 million.

The unnamed family who shared the astonishing windfall speculated that work may have been spirited out of Italy by an ancestor who fought in Napoleon's army in the early 19th century, reports say.

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• Corey Griffin landed a job as a software engineer at Apple after showcasing his side hustles.
• He worked for Apple Music but left to pursue his business this year.
• Griffin said he left because he wanted more control over his schedule to spend time with his kids.

This is an as-told-to conversation with Corey Griffin, a 31-year-old former Apple employee and entrepreneur from Los Angeles. Business Insider has verified their employment and income. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started coding when I was 14. I made animations for games and learned how to make my own website for my games.

I studied computer technology at college. While studying, I worked freelance for record labels, helping them make their marketing websites.

In 2014, I was hired by an agency to make marketing websites after college. There, I learned software engineering.

I knew I wanted to work for Apple or another Big Tech company, but I felt like I was at a disadvantage because I didn't get into software engineering before college or go to a school like Stanford or Harvard.

I tried to make up for it by working as a software engineer for many different companies and getting a lot of experience, including Rotten Tomatoes, Vox, and Shopify.

I found my niche working in marketing engineering, which included SEO implementation, making logo generators and domain name generators.

I freelanced on the side, building marketing websites and doing graphic design. I started my own media company, CG3, and launched a directory for Black-owned businesses and a service similar to Linktree called Hyper Link.

In January 2019, I launched a free teleprompter product called teleprompt.me, which I later renamed to Speakflow. I turned it into a subscription service, and it gained over 1,000 subscribers in a year from 2020 to 2021.

I applied for a job at Apple 4 times

I landed a job as a software engineer at Apple in August 2021. I'd applied three times before.

Having lots of side projects helped me land the job.

Most of my side projects are now inactive, but, at the time, I was able to showcase them on my résumé and talk about them in my interview. One of the interviewers had heard of Speakflow, which was still doing well.

A lot of my work in previous jobs was under an NDA, so I couldn't discuss them in the interview. I could show my wide skillset through my side projects, including graphic design, animation, marketing, and coding. I also had clients in a range of industries, such as the music industry and small technical clients. We talked a lot about that in the interview process.

I left my Apple job after 2 years

I worked on software for the Apple music team, including radio and podcasts. I started fully remote and then worked a hybrid pattern that included going to our office in Culver City, California.

I really enjoyed the work, and the office was cool. I worked hard to get that job.

I never imagined I'd leave within two years.

I wanted more freedom over my schedule

I have two kids, and I wanted to have complete control over my schedule.

I figured I could probably replace my Apple salary with my media business, especially Speakflow, which made six figures in revenue in the last year. The side project had been live in the background while I was at Apple.

I'd had some family members who were sick and others who passed recently. Mortality was on my mind. Working for myself full-time was a big life goal. It seemed like the right time to make the jump.

I left Apple in December 2023 to pursue my media business full-time, particularly the Speakflow product. I wasn't sure it was the right decision and it felt risky, but I wanted to take a gamble on myself.

I have so much more flexibility now. I can drop my kids off at school every day and pick them up.

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• Malaysia may add a casino to Forest City, a mega-development that has turned into a ghost town.
• The casino, which would be the second in the country, could rejuvenate the struggling property.
• The move may attract Singapore tourists, who pay a daily tax to gamble at home.

Malaysia's Forest City mega-development started with big ambitions and big money.

Announced in 2006, the luxury housing project in the south — easily accessible from Singapore — would house 700,000 people and feature a waterpark and hotels. The whole project cost its developers $100 billion.

But, eight years after construction began, only a few thousand people live there. The project has turned into a ghost town — and a major liability for its developer, which is facing sizable financial issues elsewhere.

Now, Malaysia is in talks with several high-profile investors to add a casino to Forest City, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The southeast nation's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met with the heads of a Malaysian property development firm and a resort company at Forest City last week. A representative of Malyasia's billionaire king, Ibrahim Iskandar, also attended, the people told Bloomberg.

King Ibrahim owns more than 20% of Forest City as part of a joint venture with Chinese real estate developer Country Garden, Bloomberg reported. The king took the throne in January for his five-year term and said last month he is ready to "begin my real way of ruling." The other partner, Country Garden, is facing significant financial issues from China's floundering property market and had nearly $200 billion in liabilities at the end of last June.

The two tycoons who met with the prime minister last week own some of Malaysia's most prominent businesses. One of the companies is Genting Group, a resort and theme park operator that owns Malaysia's only casino, located in a central Malaysian hill town. Genting operates other casinos in Singapore, the US, and the UK. The other, Berjaya Corp., runs hotels and develops properties, among other businesses.

The casino talks are in early stages and it is unclear if Prime Minister Anwar will allow such a business. Malaysia has a Muslim-majority population and those following Islam are prohibited from gambling.

Forest City did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

Expensive, empty apartments

A casino — which would only be the second in Malaysia — could help struggling Forest City.

While advertised as a "popular short-haul tourist destination," the complex, which includes apartments, hotels, a waterpark, and a mall, only sees a few dozen visitors each day, Business Insider reported in April. Those who do come are typically on a budget and don't spend much.

As of last year, only about 15% of the planned property had been completed, local media reported.

Most apartments look like they've never been lived in, a BI reporter who visited earlier this year observed. They're almost twice the price of other apartments in the city, and wealthy people prefer to buy single-family homes, BI reported in April.

A new casino could attract tourists from Singapore. Singapore's government disincentivizes gambling by taxing residents 150 Singapore dollars, or $110, to enter local casinos. Singapore is connected by a one-kilometer bridge to the state of Johor, where Forest City is.

Cities around the world are similarly looking to add casinos to boost tourism.

The United Arab Emirates, another majority-Muslim country, is betting big on gambling. Earlier this year, it launched a federal-level gaming authority, and plans are in place to create an "Arabian Strip," an Emirati version of the Las Vegas Strip of hotels and casinos on the island of Al Marjan.

New York City is also looking to cash in. In April last year, the state government authorized up to three casino licenses for downstate New York, which includes the city and surrounding counties.

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• In March, Russia dealt with its highest-ever number of AWOL cases since the war began, Mediazona reported.
• Russian courts issued a daily average of 34 AWOL sentences in that month alone, per the outlet.
• Almost all of the cases in March were related to those conscripted in the September mobilization.

Russian courts assessed 684 absences without leave in March, the highest-ever monthly count since the war in Ukraine began, independent Russian media reported.

Citing public records, independent outlet Mediazona reported on April 12 that a daily average of 34 AWOL sentences were carried out in military courts that month.

Mediazona reported that almost all of the cases were related to men recruited in Russia's mobilization, which began in September 2022 and saw some 300,000 men conscripted to fight in Ukraine.

The independent report was cited in a UK Defence Ministry intelligence update on Wednesday.

"Russian soldiers, including those forcibly recruited during the September 2022 partial mobilization, are required to remain in military service indefinitely, with little prospect of release," the update said.

Men found guilty of going AWOL were typically handed suspended sentences to allow them to return to their units, some of which are on the front lines, Mediazona reported.

At least some of these AWOL cases played out over the last year, including the unauthorized absence of a contract soldier who returned home in May 2023 and was later diagnosed with a mental disorder, per Mediazona.

Russian courts have dealt with some 2,300 AWOL cases since the start of 2024, and about 7,400 total cases since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to Mediazona.

Moscow was the region with the most such trials, with 496 cases, per Mediazona.

The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular hours by Business Insider.

The Kremlin's partial mobilization in 2022 was deeply unpopular, sparking an exodus of affluent Russians and protests in Moscow.

Thousands of draftees were sent to combat units and were widely reported to have initially received little training and equipment. Some died in their first month of deployment.

Grueling conditions on the front line and heavy fighting in the summer of 2023 slammed Russian morale, with multiple reports and rumors of infighting, desertion, and malingering.

But Russia's all-out push to boost its numbers appears to be taking effect. Its army has grown by about 15% since the war in Ukraine started, according to an estimation on April 10 by US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

This spring, Russia is set to call up some 150,000 men for routine, statutory military service, which typically lasts about one year. These men are not legally obliged to fight outside the country.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has also struggled to replenish its hard-hit forces, with thousands of military-age men trying to flee the country or hide from Kyiv's military draft.

To shore up its manpower, Ukraine's parliament on April 2 lowered its draft age for males from 27 to 25. On Tuesday, the country's foreign ministry also announced that it was temporarily suspending issuing passports to Ukrainian military-age men abroad, requiring them to return home to renew their documents.

Russia has slowly been making gains in Ukrainian territory since the start of 2024, with Ukraine saying its troops are struggling without vital ammo and weapons previously supplied by NATO. After stalling in Congress for months, about $60 billion in US assistance to Ukraine was approved on Wednesday.

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• Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million in company stock to buy a luxury yacht.
• He's buying a Westport 164 from his friend and Jefferies client Tilman Fertitta.
• Handler isn't planning any more stock sales, he said on Wednesday.

Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million of his stock in the company to buy himself a gift — a luxury yacht.

Handler sold 1.5 million shares, or 7% of his holdings, to purchase a "personal boat and to pay tax obligations," the investment bank said in a Wednesday statement.

"My sale of shares today was a gift to myself and my family, and I do not intend to sell any further shares," Handler said in the statement. "I remain extremely bullish on Jefferies."

The boat is a Westport 164 yacht and was purchased from Jefferies client and Handler's longtime friend Tilman Fertitta, the Financial Times reported.

Fertitta is the billionaire CEO of hospitality company Landry's and owns the Houston Rockets, an NBA team. The two men jointly own Lancadia Holdings, a blank-check company.

Handler, who has been with the bank since 1990, has received about 70% of his pay in the form of company shares, Jefferies said in the statement. He has previously sold shares only for tax purposes and charity, the bank said.

Jefferies did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Investors often view executives' stock sales as a signal about lack of company confidence, so any sales are carefully messaged.

In October, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he would sell 1 million of his 8.6 million shares, his first sale since becoming CEO in 2006. The filing announcing the planned sale said Dimon chose to sell the stocks "for financial diversification and tax-planning purposes" and that he "continues to believe the company's prospects are very strong." He sold the first of the sets of shares in February for $150 million.

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• The CEO of Norges Bank told the FT that he thinks Americans work much harder than Europeans.
• Nicolai Tangen made the remark as he explained the sovereign fund's push toward investing in the US.
• About half of the $1.6 trillion oil fund's equities are now invested in the US.

Europeans are less ambitious and don't work as hard as Americans, said Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norway's $1.6 trillion oil fund.

"There's a mindset issue in terms of acceptance of mistakes and risks. You go bust in America, you get another chance. In Europe, you're dead," Tangen told The Financial Times in an interview published on Wednesday.

"We are not very ambitious," Tangen added. "I should be careful about talking about work-life balance, but the Americans just work harder."

Tangen made these remarks as he gave an overview of his firm's push toward investments in the US, which now make up half of the equities held by Norges Bank.

Norges Bank is in charge of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which manages revenue from the country's massive oil and gas reserves and holds some $1.6 trillion in assets.

Tangen said his firm is watching the US 2024 elections closely and told the FT that it is concerned about the possible outcomes, though he declined to share more.

"We just invest in America in great companies for the long term. It won't have any implications for how we allocate our capital," he said of the election, per the FT. "We have nearly half the assets in America, we will stay invested in America."

The CEO added that US shares have been beating Europe's because American companies are innovating and growing technology faster than their European counterparts, telling the FT that he felt the trend is "worrisome."

About 71% of Norges Bank's holdings are in equities, with large stakes in US companies, including $19.2 billion in Alphabet, $17.4 billion in Amazon, and $33 billion in Apple.

Norges Bank is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund and the largest single owner in the global stock market. The firm invests in 72 countries and is estimated to own 1.5% of all shares worldwide.

It's true that Americans, on average, work longer hours than their European counterparts, according to data collected from 2019 to 2022 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The average polled US worker said they worked 1,811 hours a year, or about 35 hours a week, compared to an average of 1,571 hours a year among workers in European Union countries. That's also compared to a total average of 1,752 hours a year documented by the OECD.

UK employees said in the same survey that they worked 1,532 hours a year, while German employees say they've worked the least out of all OECD countries — at an average of 1,341 hours a year, or about 26 hours a week.

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• The Department of Justice is investigating McKinsey for advising opioid producers on boosting sales.
• The firm previously paid nearly $1 billion to resolve lawsuits related to its opioid work.
• The investigation is also looking at potential obstruction of justice by McKinsey and its employees.

Premier consultancy McKinsey & Company is under investigation by the US Department of Justice for its past work advising opioid manufacturers on how to juice sales, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The probe is also investigating whether the firm or its employees obstructed justice relating to record-keeping.

McKinsey has long been under scrutiny for its yearslong work with various drugmakers, including Purdue Pharma. The consultancy has paid nearly $1 billion to all 50 states, Native American tribes, local governments, and other groups to resolve a host of lawsuits without admitting wrongdoing.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died in the opioid crisis.

A spokesman for McKinsey declined to comment. The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside normal business hours.

The DOJ investigation was years in the making. Former McKinsey client Endo, a pharmaceutical company, said in a regulatory filing that it received subpoenas about McKinsey in December 2020 and May 2021.

A grand jury has been set up in Virginia, and US attorney's offices in the Western District of Virginia and the District of Massachusetts are working together on the investigation, the Journal reported.

News of the investigation underscores how McKinsey's opioid work — which the firm said it stopped in 2019 — continues to plague the consultancy.

Project Turbocharge

McKinsey worked with opioid-producing drugmakers for decades, but its work ramped up as the opioid crisis took hold.

After Purdue pleaded guilty to misleadingly marketing OxyContin in 2007, for example, McKinsey created a plan called "Project Turbocharge" to boost sales. This plan involved doubling Purdue's marketing budget, lobbying doctors, and targeting medical practitioners who already wrote the most prescriptions for OxyContin, Seattle prosecutors wrote in a 2022 lawsuit.

Various lawsuits have surfaced internal McKinsey communications, including information about the firm's record-keeping practices. In a 2018 email, for example, a since-fired McKinsey executive wrote to another senior executive about the firm's legal risk.

"It probably makes sense to have a quick conversation with the risk committee to see if we should be doing anything other that [sic] eliminating all our documents and emails," the former McKinsey partner, Martin Elling, wrote. "As things get tougher here someone might turn to us."

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• Trump's company hired an accountant who couldn't get his name right in filings, per the Financial Times.
• Ben F Borgers spelled his name in 14 different ways, the FT reported.
• Some variations were just minor typos, but others were entirely different names.

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.

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