In the News
Accounting News Roundup: BDO on the Hook for $91M in Florida Suit
by Caleb Newquist - Going Concern
February 1, 2011 -
$91M awarded in Batchelor case [Miami Herald]
A Circuit Court jury in Miami decided on Monday that the accounting firm BDO Seidman should pay the late philanthropist/aviation pioneer George Batchelor’s estate and foundation $91 million for "fraudulently" concealing false information about a company in which Batchelor had invested. The award consists of $55 million in punitive and $36 million in compensatory damages. Steven Thomas of the Venice, Calif., firm Thomas, Alexander & Forrester, is lead Batchelor attorney. He said he thought that the punitive damage award was so hefty because "BDO, right up to the end, denied it had a public duty — and public is literally their middle name: CPA."
