The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Crowe UK LLP, chief executive Nigel Bostock, and senior auditor and partner Matthew Stallabrass, for the firm’s deficient audit of music streaming company Akazoo Limited, an online music streaming subscription service set up in 2008.

Crowe has been fined a total of $825,000 (£650,000) with the firm receiving a $750,000 sanction for the audit failures, while the individual partners have been banned from working on US audits, with Bostock fined $50,000, and Stallabrass $25,000.

According to the SEC’s order, Crowe UK issued a clean audit report of Akazoo’s 2018 financial statements when in fact the company’s earnings were based on fake documents and letters.

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