Nigerian Fintech company Tingo Group has been accused by U.S.-based investment research and risk assessment firm, Hindenburg Research, of being extremely fraudulent.
Hindenburg, in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that Tingo lied about its $1.6 billion food processing plant, its expansion drive to Ghana, and that it superimposed its brand onto another PoS operator’s device.
In the report, Dozy Mmuobuosi, the founder and CEO of Tingo, was also accused by Hindenburg of making up details of his personal and professional history.
In the past, Mr Mmuobuosi had gained notoriety for his attempts to acquire Sheffield United, a Premier League team that had recently been promoted, as well as for sponsoring the preseason cup for the Nigerian Football League.
Reports that Tingo had founded Nigeria’s first mobile payment app was immediately refuted by Deji Oguntonade the actual creator.
The report further revealed that Mr Mmuobosi’s claim that he received a PhD from a Malaysian university was also false, revealing that it independently reached out to the university, which said that no one by his name was found in their verification system.
Hindenburg claimed Tingo DMCC was not registered in the Nigerian customs database, despite the organisation’s previous claims that its DMCC’s agricultural export business, Tingo DMCC, was on track to deliver more than $1.34 billion in exports by the third quarter of 2023.
Following Hindenburg’s report, the Agri-Fintech company has seen its share price crash on NASDAQ by -55 per cent.