SEC Charges Olayinka Oyebola and His Accounting Firm With Aiding and Abetting Massive TINGO Fraud
On September 30, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) charged Olayinka Oyebola and his Public Company Accounting Oversight Board-registered accounting firm, Olayinka Oyebola & Co. (Chartered Accountants), with aiding and abetting a massive securities fraud perpetrated by Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye, also known as Dozy Mmobuosi, and three related U.S. companies that Mmobuosi controlled (the Tingo entities).
On December 18, 2023, the SEC announced charges against Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye, a/k/a Dozy Mmobuosi, and three affiliated U.S.-based entities of which he is the CEO – Nasdaq-listed Tingo Group Inc., OTC-traded Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc. (fka Tingo Inc.), and Tingo International Holdings Inc. – in connection with an alleged multi-year scheme to inflate the financial performance metrics of these companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide.
The SEC’s complaint, filed on December 18, 2023, alleged that, since at least 2019, Mmobuosi spearheaded a scheme to fabricate financial statements and other documents of the three entities and their Nigerian operating subsidiaries, Tingo Mobile Limited and Tingo Foods PLC. The complaint further alleged that 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. For instance, Tingo 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.
In reality, those same bank accounts allegedly had a combined balance of less than $50 as of the end of fiscal year 2022. According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants also fabricated the customer relationships that formed the basis of their purported businesses. The complaint alleges that Mmobuosi and the entities he controls have 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.
On August 29, 2024, the SEC obtained a $250 million final judgment against Mmobuosi and the Tingo entities. The judgment against Mmobuosi includes a bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company, a penny stock bar, and a bar from participating in the purchase, sale, offer, or issuance of any security. Tingo International and Mmobuosi are ordered jointly and severally to pay disgorgement of $156,672,705.86 with prejudgment interest of $20,193,871.58 and to disgorge for cancellation all shares of Agri-Fintech stock that Tingo International and Mmobuosi own. Agri-Fintech and Mmobuosi are ordered jointly and severally to pay disgorgement of $12,164,000.00 with prejudgment interest of $574,682.90 and to disgorge for cancellation all shares of Tingo Group stock that Agri-Fintech and Mmobuosi own. Mmobuosi is also ordered to pay disgorgement of $27,632,627.93 with prejudgment interest of $2,032,811.14, to disgorge for cancellation a $204,000,000.00 promissory note inuring to his benefit against Tingo Group, and to pay a civil penalty of $31,908,704.21. Tingo Group, Agri-Fintech, and Tingo International are also ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1,152,314.00 each.
The SEC’s complaint filed today alleges that Oyebola and his firm deliberately failed to take action upon learning that businessman Mmobuosi and the Tingo entities created multiple fake audit reports bearing Oyebola’s signature and included them in SEC filings as though they were issued by Oyebola’s firm. Oyebola allegedly made material misstatements to the then-auditor of one of the Tingo entities, and Oyebola and the firm helped Mmobuosi conceal that the audit reports were fake, resulting in the auditor, investors, and regulators relying upon the misstatements and fake audit reports to their detriment. According to the SEC’s complaint, Oyebola and his firm’s assistance enabled Mmobuosi and the Tingo entities to carry out a multi-year scheme to inflate financial performance metrics and defraud investors worldwide.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges Oyebola and his firm with aiding and abetting violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws by Mmobuosi and the three Tingo entities. The SEC also charged Oyebola with aiding and abetting Mmobuosi’s violation of lying to auditors. The complaint seeks civil penalties as well as permanent injunctive relief, including an order permanently barring Oyebola and his firm from acting as auditors or accountants for U.S. public companies or otherwise providing substantial assistance in the preparation of financial statements filed with the SEC.
To speak with a Securities Attorney, please contact Brenda Hamilton at 200 E Palmetto Park Rd, Suite 103, Boca Raton, Florida, (561) 416-8956, or by email at [email protected]. This securities law blog post is provided as a general informational service to clients and friends of Hamilton & Associates Law Group and should not be construed as and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship. Please note that the prior results discussed herein do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Hamilton & Associates | Securities Attorneys
Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney
200 E Palmetto Park Rd, Suite 103
Boca Raton, Florida 33432
Telephone: (561) 416-8956
Facsimile: (561) 416-2855
www.SecuritiesLawyer101.com
