© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., Might 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Picture
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan unveiled felony costs in opposition to a Nigerian fintech businessman who just lately bid unsuccessfully for an English Premier League soccer membership, saying he lied to buyers in regards to the funds of his firms.
Odogwu Banye Mmobuosi, the previous co-chief government officer of Tingo Group, was charged with securities fraud, making false U.S. Securities and Change Fee filings, and conspiracy in an indictment made public on Tuesday.
Prosecutors stated the defendant, referred to as Dozy, falsely represented that his Tingo Cellular and Tingo Meals had been worthwhile companies producing lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of income.
Mmobuosi offered the companies to Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech Holdings, induced them to falsely painting his companies as “cash-rich, revenue-generating firms,” and looted hundreds of thousands of {dollars} by misappropriating money and promoting inventory at inflated costs, the indictment stated.
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 stated.
Mmobuosi briefly stepped down as Tingo Group’s co-CEO final month, after the SEC filed civil costs accusing him of orchestrating a “staggering” fraud.
The SEC stated Mmobuosi siphoned no less than $16 million from Tingo Group and used it to purchase luxurious automobiles and journey on personal jets, and attempt to purchase the Sheffield United soccer group.
In line with the SEC criticism, Tingo Cellular purportedly provides cell handsets and associated providers to farmers in Nigeria, whereas Tingo Meals is a purported meals processor.
The indictment was made public almost seven months after the short-seller Hindenburg Analysis accused Tingo Group of getting “fabricated” its financials, and challenged Mmobuosi’s declare to have developed Nigeria’s first cell cost app.
