Crypto firm tied to Trumps axes auditor

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A small financial-technology company tied to a Trump family crypto project has fired its auditor, the latest sign of turmoil at the Las Vegas-based firm.

Alt5 Sigma Corp. dismissed the auditor, called Victor Mokuolu CPA PLLC, on Christmas Day — less than three weeks after hiring it, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Its new auditor is Deer Park, Illinois-based L J Soldinger Associates LLC, the filing said.

The company had inked a $1.5 billion deal in August to buy tokens created by World Liberty Financial Inc., a crypto firm co-founded by members of President Donald Trump's family. The deal was intended to transform Alt5, a virtually unknown former appliance recycler and biotech startup, into a stockpiler of that WLFI token. 

The company said it had no disagreements with the Houston-based accounting firm. The Financial Times reported Monday that its license to practice lapsed in August, meaning it was disqualified from vetting Alt5's books. Texas accounting regulatory records show the license of the firm's founder, Victor Mokuolu, is current.

When reached by phone, Mokuolu declined to comment. Alt5 didn't immediately return requests for comment.

Victor Mokuolu CPA PLLC confirmed that it no longer was the company's auditor and had no disagreements with Alt5's announcement in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission submitted as an exhibit to Monday's regulatory filing.

Alt5 catapulted into national prominence in August when it announced its strategy to stockpile the Trump-linked digital tokens. Eric Trump, who co-founded World Liberty Financial, became a board observer, a role that allows the right to join board meetings without voting. Zach Witkoff, a fellow co-founder and son of presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, was tapped as chairman of the board.

In late-August Alt5 disclosed that a subsidiary was found criminally liable for money laundering in Rwanda. In November, the company dismissed members of its senior leadership team, including Jonathan Hugh, who'd been chief financial officer and acting chief executive officer, and Ron Pitters, who was chief operating officer.

Alt5's hiring of L J Soldinger Associates marks its third auditor in less than two months.

Its audit firm since 2023, Hudgens CPA, informed the company in late November that it was resigning due to the retirement of the firm's sole partner, according to a filing. Earlier that month, Alt5 missed the deadline to file its quarterly financial statement, citing in part that there were delays related to the timeliness and responsiveness of the audit firm.

William Hudgens, the firm's managing partner said Monday he isn't retiring but that his firm was planning to exit the business of providing public company audits. Hudgens said he told the company in June of those plans.

Earlier in December, Hudgens said via e-mail that the company was unfairly making his firm the "scapegoat" for its own internal issues.

"For this reason, we have recused ourselves of all contact and reported the inaccuracies to the SEC as required," he wrote.