© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan unveiled legal expenses towards a Nigerian fintech businessman who just lately bid unsuccessfully for an English Premier League soccer membership, saying he lied to buyers concerning the funds of his corporations.
Odogwu Banye Mmobuosi, the previous co-chief govt officer of Tingo Group, was charged with securities fraud, making false U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and conspiracy in an indictment made public on Tuesday.
Prosecutors mentioned the defendant, often known as Dozy, falsely represented that his Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods have been worthwhile companies producing a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} of income.
Mmobuosi bought the companies to Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech Holdings, triggered them to falsely painting his companies as “cash-rich, revenue-generating companies,” and looted tens of millions of {dollars} by misappropriating money and promoting inventory at inflated costs, the indictment mentioned.
A lawyer for Mmobuosi couldn’t instantly be recognized. Tingo Group, primarily based in Montvale, New Jersey, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The alleged scheme occurred from 2019 to 2023, prosecutors mentioned.
Mmobuosi briefly stepped down as Tingo Group’s co-CEO final month, after the SEC filed civil expenses accusing him of orchestrating a “staggering” fraud.
The SEC mentioned Mmobuosi siphoned at the least $16 million from Tingo Group and used it to purchase luxurious automobiles and journey on non-public jets, and attempt to purchase the Sheffield United soccer workforce.
According to the SEC criticism, Tingo Mobile purportedly provides cellular handsets and associated companies to farmers in Nigeria, whereas Tingo Foods is a purported meals processor.
The indictment was made public almost seven months after the short-seller Hindenburg Research accused Tingo Group of getting “fabricated” its financials, and challenged Mmobuosi’s declare to have developed Nigeria’s first cellular fee app.
