In the United States, Tingo’s founder, Dozy Mmobuosi, has been charged with securities fraud.
Photo credits: Wikipedia
Dozy Mmobuosi
Dozy Mmobuosi, a 45-year-old from Nigeria, is facing serious charges in the United States.
In the U.S., legal authorities have revealed the specifics of the charges against Odogwu Dozy Mmobuosi, who is both the founder and CEO of Tingo Group. Tingo Group is a startup related to agriculture and finance that is listed on Nasdaq. The charges allege that Mmobuosi falsely claimed hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues and assets for three companies under his control.
Photo credits: Nasdaq.com
He is accused of working together with others which could lead to a maximum of five years in prison. Charged with committing securities fraud, which might result in a 20-year prison sentence. Lastly, he is accused of submitting false documents to the SEC, and if found guilty, this charge also carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. If found guilty of these three charges, he could face a maximum prison term of 45 years. Currently, authorities say Mmobuosi is not in custody.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams
According to the U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, he said;
“Dozy Mmobuosi allegedly orchestrated a massive scheme to inflate Tingo Group’s financial statements and make it appear as though the cellular and agriculture companies he founded were profitable and cash-rich companies when, in fact, they were not. With this Indictment, Mmobuosi’s alleged deceitful scheme comes to an end.”
The charges say that Mmobuosi planned to make himself richer by misleading others. He falsely claimed that his Nigerian companies, Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods, were successful and making hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue when, in reality, they were not.
In the year 2022, Tingo Group claimed to have $461.7 million in cash and similar assets for the whole financial year. However, after looking into it, it was found that their bank accounts had less than $50 altogether.
Over the years, Mmobuosi spoke highly about his businesses in interviews. In 2021, he told a publication that Tingo had 12 million users and was valued at $6.3 billion. He also shared with various publications his intentions to list Tingo on the New York Stock Exchange by 2021.
In real life, Tingo got on the Nasdaq stock exchange by doing some reverse mergers that supposedly used fake financial information. Being on the Nasdaq allowed Mmobuosi and his companies to reach out to American investors and get more money. According to U.S. prosecutors, he managed to take around $16 million from Tingo Group.
The tall tales holding up Tingo’s success quickly fell apart. Hindenburg Research, a well-known group that bets against companies, questioned Tingo’s money matters and how it runs, labeling it as a big fraud. The report said that Tingo wasn’t honest about its finances and operations.
On December 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that they are investigating what Tingo has been up to. Because of this, they told everyone to hold off on buying or selling Tingo’s shares for a bit. Just two days later, the person in charge of Tingo, Dozy Mmobuosi, decided to step back from his job at the company for a little while.
