USA – Troubled cheese firm Suprema Specialities closed its doors on Monday surrounded by investigations by the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

Problems at the company became apparent in December when two key financial staff resigned. That sparked an investigation by the SEC.

More than a dozen actions followed, mostly surrounding false accounting and falsely inflated share prices.

The FBI then embargoed $45 million (51 million euro) of cheese because the product’s contents and labelling were called into question.

It was Suprema’s hard cheese business which had the largest problems. This was allegedly a poorly documented brokering business, which was responsible for $300 million (341 million euro) in sales last year.

In its results for the 12 months to 30 June last year, Suprema reported sales up 51% to $420 million (478 million euro). The company had grown quickly from a small family run outfit to a major supplier to supermarkets and fast food chains.