The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Nigerian auditor Olayinka Oyebola and his accounting firm Olayinka Oyebola & Co. for allegedly helping three US-based companies promoted by Dozy Mmobuosi to perpetrate fraud.
Last month, a US federal court fined Mr Mmobuosi and his companies, including two Nasdaq-listed entities, Tingo Group and Agri-Fintech Holdings, as well as Tingo International Holdings $250 million following a fraud case brought against them by the SEC.
The SEC’s complaint accused Mmobuosi of orchestrating a large-scale fraud by inflating the financial performance metrics of his companies to mislead investors worldwide. The commission alleged that Mmobuosi’s business empire, which claimed to operate in the fintech and agricultural technology sectors, was essentially a “fiction.”
The court found that Mmobuosi and his firms “failed to answer, plead, or otherwise defend” themselves in response to the civil complaint filed by the SEC last December. Mmobuosi has since denied the allegations.
In a new development, the SEC alleged that Mr Oyebola and his firm played a critical role in enabling Mmobuosi and the Tingo entities to deceive investors over several years by falsifying audit reports.
Director of the SEC’s New York regional office Antonia Apps condemned Oyebola’s actions, stating: “As alleged, Oyebola and his firm violated the public trust and abdicated their responsibilities as public company accountants and auditors by helping Mmobuosi and the Tingo entities effectuate and conceal their fraud.
“We will not hesitate to hold gatekeepers to the public markets accountable when they facilitate fiction rather than truth.”
In its complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC 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 US public companies or otherwise providing substantial assistance in the preparation of financial statements filed with the SEC.
