A former chief executive officer of Tingo Group, Odogwu Banye Mmobuosi, a.k.a. Dozy Mmobuosi, has been charged with fraud by United States prosecutors in Manhattan.
The Nigerian was accused of orchestrating a massive scheme between 209 and 2023 to inflate Tingo’s financial statements, trying to portray Tingo Mobile, a cellular company, and Tingo Foods, an agriculture company, he founded as profitable and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, when they were actually struggling.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced Mmbuosi’s indictment on Tuesday.
The three-count charge against Mmbuosi carries different sentences; with one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, one count of securities fraud under Title 15, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of making false filings with the SEC, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The 45-year-old Mmbuosi, said to be at large, had tried to buy Premier League side Sheffield United.
