A US federal court has ordered Nigerian businessman, Dozy Mmobuosi, to pay more than $250 million in fines and barred him from serving as a director of a public company. This ruling by Judge Jesse M Furman follows charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year. The SEC charged Dozy Mmobuosi and three of his companies, including two Nasdaq-listed enterprises, with fraud for inflating the “financial performance” metrics of his companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide.
According to a statement by the SEC, “Mmobuosi made and caused the entities to make material misrepresentations about their business operations and financial success in press releases, periodic SEC filings, and other public statements,”.
The group’s fiscal year 2022 Form 10-K filed in March 2023 reported a cash and cash equivalent balance of $461.7 million in its subsidiary Tingo Mobile’s Nigerian bank accounts when in reality those same bank accounts had a combined balance of less than $50 as of the end of fiscal year 2022.
Tingo Group is based in New Jersey and operates in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Its fintech firm claimed to have millions of customers in Nigeria, mostly farmers, and operated a food processing business. But the SEC accused Tingo of grossly exaggerating its assets, revenue, expenses, and customer base, alleging that the fraud was massive.
Upon getting charged, Tingo Group did not defend itself in court. Having failed to plead or answer the charges, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment by default against Mmobuosi and his companies.
Tingo Group Nasdaq Delisting
This is not the first time the Nigerian billionaire has failed to defend himself or his companies after an allegation. Trouble started brewing when Hindenburg Research, a short-selling firm that specializes in forensic financial research, alleged that the fintech firm had “fabricated” its financials. The firm concluded that Tingo was an “exceptionally obvious scam“.
Later last year on November 13, 2023, according to Tingo group, “The Company was notified by Nasdaq that it was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2), the minimum bid price rule, because its common stock failed to achieve a closing bid price of $1.00 or more for 30 consecutive business days.”
After receiving the above non-compliance matter together with other non-compliance findings by Nasdaq, Tingo decided to voluntarily delist from Nasdaq.
Despite all these troubles, Mmobuosi is flashy man said to have siphoned at least $16 million from Tingo Group. It is alleged he travels on private jets and owns a fleet of luxury vehicles. At one time, he tried to purchase Sheffield United football team based in England.
