Odogwu Banue Mmbsuosi has been charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with securities fraud, creating false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and conspiracy. Mmbousi is still on the loose.
The FBI claims that the founder of Tingo, a Nigerian-founded Nasdaq-listed agri-fintech business, declared hundreds of millions of dollars in false revenues and assets for three companies he controls.
According to the SEC, it won a temporary asset freeze, restraining order, and other emergency relief against the three connected U.S.-based corporations of which he is the CEO-Tingo Group Inc, Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc., and Tingo International Holdings Inc.
This is in line with an alleged multi-year conspiracy to exaggerate the financial performance measures of these companies and significant operating subsidiaries in order to deceive investors worldwide, according to the complaint.
Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James Smith, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, announced the indictment's unsealing yesterday.
"From at least in or around 2019 through at least in or around 2023, Odogwu Banye Mmpbousi orchestrated a scheme to enrich himself by falsely representing that Nigerian companies he founded, Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods, were operational, profitable businesses generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, respectively," the FBI said in a statement.
"Mmobuosi then sold Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods to companies listed in the United States, including Tingo Group (listed on Nasdaq as TIO) and Agri-Fintech Holdings (traded in the Over-the-Counter Markets under the symbol TMNA," it continued.
As a result of Mmobuosi’s actions, Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech issued financial statements that falsely depicted Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods as cash-rich, revenue-generating businesses when, in fact, they were not.
According to the FBI, Mmobuosi then robbed Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech by "misappropriating cash from those companies and engaged in well-timed sales of their shares at inflated prices, generating millions of dollars of profits from his scheme."
"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 when, in fact, they were not," stated US Attorney Williams. Mmobuosi's alleged deceptive scheme comes to a stop with this Indictment."
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