US charges ex-fintech CEO with fraud

Tingo

02/01/2024 20:31

NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors in
Manhattan unveiled criminal charges against a Nigerian fintech
businessman who recently bid unsuccessfully for an English
Premier League soccer club, saying he lied to investors about
the finances of his companies.
    Odogwu Banye Mmobuosi, the former co-chief executive officer
of Tingo Group  TIO.O , was charged with securities fraud,
making false U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings,
and conspiracy in an indictment made public on Tuesday.
    Prosecutors said the defendant, known as Dozy, falsely
represented that his Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods were
profitable businesses generating hundreds of millions of dollars
of revenue.
    Mmobuosi sold the businesses to Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech
Holdings  TMNA.PK , caused them to falsely portray his
businesses as "cash-rich, revenue-generating companies," and
looted millions of dollars by misappropriating cash and selling
stock at inflated prices, the indictment said.
    A lawyer for Mmobuosi could not immediately be identified.
Tingo Group, based in Montvale, New Jersey, did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. The alleged scheme occurred
from 2019 to 2023, prosecutors said.
    Mmobuosi temporarily stepped down as Tingo Group's co-CEO
last month, 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 and used it to buy luxury cars and travel on private
jets, and try to buy the Sheffield United soccer team.
    According to the SEC complaint, Tingo Mobile purportedly
supplies mobile handsets and related services to farmers in
Nigeria, while Tingo Foods is a purported food processor.
    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.

 (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker)
 ((jon.stempel@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6317; Reuters
Messaging: jon.stempel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))