Nigerian businessman, Dozy Mmobuosi, who was given a diplomatic passport in Malawi after supporting construction of houses for Cyclone Freddy survivors, has been accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of inflating the financial performance of his companies and key subsidiaries to defraud investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye aka Dozy Mmobuosi and three affiliated U.S.-based entities of which he is the CEO. The three companies are Tingo Group Inc., Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc., and Tingo International Holdings Inc.
The charges are connection with an alleged multi-year scheme to inflate the financial performance metrics of these companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide.
The SEC’s complaint, filed on December 18, 2023, alleges that, since at least 2019, Mmobuosi spearheaded a scheme to fabricate financial statements and other documents of the three entities and their Nigerian operating subsidiaries, Tingo Mobile Limited and Tingo Foods PLC.
According to a statement released by the SEC, Mmobuosi made and caused the entities to make material misrepresentations about their business operations and financial success in press releases, periodic SEC filings, and other public statements.
The statement says Tingo Group’s fiscal year 2022 form filed in March 2023, for instance, reported a cash and cash equivalent balance of $461.7 million in its subsidiary Tingo Mobile’s Nigerian bank accounts.
“In reality, those same bank accounts allegedly had a combined balance of less than $50 as of the end of fiscal year 2022,” says the statement.
It adds that the Nigerian businessman and his companies also fabricated the customer relationships that formed the basis of their purported businesses.
“The complaint alleges that Mmobuosi and the entities he controls have fraudulently obtained hundreds of millions in money or property through these schemes, and that Mmobuosi has siphoned off funds for his personal benefit, including purchases of luxury cars and travel on private jets, as well as an unsuccessful attempt to acquire an English Football Club Premier League team, among other things,” the statement says.
Meanwhile, the SEC is seeking emergency relief freezing Mmobuosi’s assets and prohibiting the three companies from transferring money or property or issuing shares to Mmobuosi.
The SEC also seeks an order preventing the defendants from selling or disposing of their respective holdings in Agri-Fintech or Tingo Group and prohibiting them and their agents from destroying, altering, or concealing records and documents.
The charges against Mmobuosi come months after Hindenburg Research, an investment research firm, last week published an investigative report which uncovered multiple red flags in Tingo Group’s activities.
In June, Mmobuosi was in Malawi and it was revealed that the Malawi Government granted a diplomatic passport to him within two hours after making an application.
Mmobuosi was in Malawi to launch a housing project for 45 Tropical Cyclone Freddy surviving families in Phalombe. The houses are part of 100 houses which Mmobuosi through former President Bakili Muluzi pledged to construct at a total cost of K500 million.
Meanwhile, Mmobuosi has rejected the fraud allegations saying they are baseless and he will contest them and cooperate with the authorities
Mmobuosi has since temporarily stepped down as interim co-CEO of Tingo amid the ongoing investigations.
