The U.K. arm of audit firm Crowe agreed to pay $750,000 as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged professional care and skepticism failures regarding its 2018 audit of music streaming subscription company Akazoo.
Akazoo reached a $38.8 million settlement with the SEC in October 2021 for allegedly defrauding investors out of tens of millions of dollars related to its 2019 special purpose acquisition company merger. That merger was informed by the 2018 audit, which the SEC faulted Crowe U.K. for not conducting in line with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards.
