US SEC Charges Tingo Group, Dozy Mmobuosi With Massive Fraud

America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will bring charges against Dozy Mmobuosi, the CEO of Tingo Group, for fabricating financial statements and other documents of three of Tingo Group and its subsidiaries, Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods PLC.

Dozy Mmobuosi and all three of Tingo’s subsidiaries are listed as defendants in the case with charges ranging from insider trading, lying to auditors, and failing to disclose the sale of millions of common shares for which he was the ultimate beneficial owner and internal controls violations.

The announcement of the charges comes one month after the SEC formally launched an investigation into Tingo Group. The agency also suspended trading in the shares of the self-described agritech company.

Part of the SEC’s filing said, “Mmobuosi made and caused the entities to make material misrepresentations about their business operations and financial success in press releases, periodic SEC filings.”

One significant misrepresentation, for instance, is that while Tingo Group reported having cash and cash equivalent of $461.7 million for the fiscal year 2022, its bank accounts held less than $50 in total.

The SEC also said Mmobuosi “fraudulently obtained hundreds of millions in money or property through these schemes, and that Mmobuosi has siphoned off funds for his personal benefit, including purchases of luxury cars and travel on private jets, as well as an unsuccessful attempt to acquire an English Football Club Premier League team, among other things.”

Tingo was recently the subject of a Hindenburg report that referred to the company as an “exceptionally obvious scam.” Hindenburg’s report cast doubt on numerous claims made by Mmobuosi and companies under the Tingo umbrella.

According to the report, Tingo’s claims that it had sold more than 12 million smartphones to farmers in Africa were false. Farming cooperatives, supposedly partners in the scheme, denied doing business with the company.

Nwassa, an agricultural marketplace launched by Tingo, was never completed, and Hindenburg’s research alleged that the business never existed. Mmuobuosi had earlier claimed that the marketplace was processing less than 500,000 transactions as of May 2019, adding that it was expected to grow to 2 million.

In its emergency application, the SEC requests a temporary restraining order freezing Mmuobuosi’s assets, prohibiting the transfer of money or property to him, enjoining the sale of Afri-Fintech and Tingo Group stock, preventing the destruction of records, and ordering a show cause for preliminary relief.

The SEC’s investigation is ongoing, led by the New York Regional Office with cooperation from Nasdaq’s Enforcement Department.

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