Alex Enumah in Abuja
The United States has filed criminal charges against a Nigerian fintech businessman, Odogwu Mmobuosi.
Mmobuosi, who was a co-Chief Executive Officer of Tingo Group is being accused of fabricating financial statements and other documents of companies linked to him to defraud investors of millions of dollars.
The charge unveiled on Tuesday by a US prosecutor in Manhattan, is coming nearly three weeks after the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked a District Court in the Southern District of New York, to make an order “temporarily and preliminarily freezing the assets” of Mmobuosi, pending the hearing of a motion on notice.
Popularly known as Dozy Mmobuosi, the co-CEO who had last year failed in his bid to take ownership of an English Premier League soccer team, was specifically charged with securities fraud, for making false filings and conspiracy.
According to the charge, Mmobuosi, was alleged to have falsely presented his Tingo mobile cellular business and Tingo foods agriculture business as profitable, generating hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.
The charge further noted that Mmobuosi sold both businesses to Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech Holdings, caused them to falsely portray the businesses as “cash-rich, revenue-generating companies,” and looted millions of dollars by misappropriating cash and selling stock at inflated prices.
The alleged crimes were said to have been committed between 2019 to 2023. According to Reuters news, Mmobuosi is at large and his lawyer was not immediately identified at the unveiling of the charge.
Mmobuosi had temporarily stepped down as Tingo Group’s co-CEO on December 20, two days after the SEC filed civil charges accusing him of orchestrating a “staggering” fraud.
The SEC said Mmobuosi siphoned at least $16 million from Tingo Group. It said he used the money to buy luxury cars and travel on private jets, and to try to buy the Sheffield United soccer team when it was in the lower championship league.
According to the SEC complaint, Tingo Mobile purports to supply mobile handsets and related services to farmers in Nigeria, while Tingo Foods is a purported food processor.
Tingo Group is a defendant in the SEC case, and has said it intended to vigorously defend itself.
The indictment was made public nearly seven months after the short-seller Hindenburg Research accused Tingo Group of having “fabricated” its financials, and challenged Mmobuosi’s claim to have developed Nigeria’s first mobile payment app.
The case is US v Mmobuosi, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-cr-00601.
Meanwhile, SEC had in its request urged the court to extend the temporary seizure order to include Mmobuosi’s assets held at brokerage and bank accounts both known and unknown, whether in Mmobuosi’s name or the name of entities he controls.
The freezing order which formed part of 16 reliefs being sought by SEC, was predicated on the grounds that the defendants are currently engaged in acts of fraud and corruption amounting to millions of dollars belonging to investors.
A court document dated December 18, and filed on behalf of the commission revealed that Mmobuosi is being charged with fabrication of financial statements and other documents of three of Tingo Group and its subsidiaries, Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods PLC.
Mmobuosi and all three of Tingo’s subsidiaries were listed as defendants in the case and are being accused of insider trading, lying to auditors, and failing to disclose the sale of millions of common shares for which he was the ultimate beneficial owner and internal controls violations.
The other defendants are; Tingo International Holdings, Inc, Agri-Fintech Holdings, Inc. and Tingo Group, Inc.
The court document titled Jury Trial Demanded, stated that Mmobuosi for years using the companies he controlled, TIH, Agri-Fintech, and Tingo Group “have intentionally and materially overstated their reported revenues, expenses, profits and assets in their SEC filings, public statements, and the books and records they have provided to their auditors”.
According to the plaintiff, the defendants since 2019, have booked billions of dollars’ worth of fictitious transactions through two Nigerian subsidiary companies Mmobuosi founded and controls, reporting hundreds of millions of dollars of non-existent revenues and assets.
“For example, Tingo Group’s FY 2022 Form 10-K filed in March 2023 reported a cash and cash equivalent balance of $461.7 million residing in Tingo Mobile’s Nigerian bank accounts.
“Authentic bank records for the same accounts, however, show a balance of less than $50 for that period. The fraud’s roots date back years, and pertain mostly to Tingo Mobile, a private Nigerian company Mmobuosi founded that purportedly sources and supplies mobile handsets and related data and application services to farmers in Nigeria.
“Beginning in at least 2019, Mmobuosi created fake financial statements and forged supporting material to falsely portray Tingo Mobile as a thriving and profitable enterprise with hundreds of millions of annual revenue, profit and available cash, and a broad subscriber base of millions of farmers using its phones and services.
“In reality, throughout 2019, the company had no meaningful operations or customers and about $15 in its bank account”, the plaintiff claimed.
Mmobuosi in addition was accused of using these false financial figures and forgeries to effect two related frauds.
