Payward Inc., the parent company behind crypto exchange Kraken, just won a $22 million arbitration award against its former auditor Mazars USA. The reason: Mazars pulled out of Kraken’s 2022 financial audit days before completing it, despite having found no fraud, no management disagreements, and no integrity issues.
Think of it like a home inspector walking off the job right before signing the final report, then leaving the homeowner to explain to every bank why the paperwork is incomplete. Except in this case, the “home” is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and the banks are state regulators holding the keys to money transmitter licenses.
What actually happened
Here’s the timeline that matters. Mazars had been auditing Payward for three years, issuing clean opinions for the prior two. Then in November 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Kraken. Days later, in December 2023, Mazars abruptly withdrew from the 2022 audit.
No findings of fraud. No disagreements with management. No red flags. Just a sudden exit that, according to Payward, created an unearned “cloud” of doubt over the entire company.
