michaelaHindenburg Research, a forensic financial research specialist, published a detailed report on Nigerian Dozy Mmobuosi‘s fraudulent business history on Tuesday.
ringroad.com.ng search engine can report that numerous social media accounts rallied round Mmobuosi on Wednesday.
Mmobuosi is a businessman described by newspapers, including The Daily Mail UK, as a tech billionaire.
The Daily Mail wrote that Mmobuosi’s Tingo Group was worth £7 billion in an article published on February 2. Three days later, The Daily Mail reported that “the value of his tech company plummeted by around $8 billion (£6.7 billion) in the past year”.
According to Hindenburg Research’s findings, Mmobuosi and Tingo claimed to have provided mobile phones, food processing and an online food marketplace for farmers in Nigeria. Researchers are yet to find those services or their beneficiaries.
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HINDENBURG’S FINDINGS THAT POINT AT MMOBUOSI’S FRAUD
“…we think Tingo is a worthless and brazen fraud that should serve as a humiliating embarrassment for all involved. We do not expect the company will be long for this world,” Hindenburg wrote after highlighting three dozen inconsistences about Mmobuosi.
Mmobuosi lied in his biography when he claimed he developed the first mobile payment app in Nigeria. The developer of the app told Hindenburg that Mmobuosi lied.
Hindenburg also found that Mmobuosi did not receive a PhD in rural advancement from UPM Malaysia in 2007 as he had claimed.
Mmobuosi had photoshopped Tingo logos onto pictures of airplanes in 2019. He claimed that he had launched Tingo Airlines, but news outlets in the UK found he lied too.
Hindenburg pointed at a CNN interview clip from February 9, which ringroad.com.ng search engine saw. In the interview about his bid to buy Sheffield Football Club, Mmobuosi told sports editor Darren Lewis that he planned to realise his airline dream but COVID-19 made it impossible.
The photoshopped Tingo Airlines plane
Tingo Food, Tingo Group’s food subsidiary, claimed that it made $577.2 million in February and March 2023. Tingo Group is based in New Jersey, so this was the figure it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The problem with this figure is that Tingo Foods does not produce or process its food. Tingo Foods claims it is a middleman between farmers in Nigeria and an unnamed food-processing third party. Hindenburg showed that Tingo Foods’ operating margins were higher than every major food company on the planet with 24.8 percent.
Net revenues for 2023’s first quarter amounted to $851.2 million; an increase of 8,801 percent compared to 2022’s first quarter, according to Tingo Group’s 2023 Q1 financials with SEC.
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Tingo Mobile, Tingo Group’s mobile technology subsidiary, claimed to have millions of subscribers functioning in Nigeria. It had also told Hindenburg that Tingo had an agreement with Airtel to provide voice and data services under a Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) arrangement.
Alastair Jones, Airtel Africa’s Investor Relations Officer, told Hindinburg that Airtel had no MVNO agreement with Tingo in an email.
More accusations backed by proof included a nonexistent PoS platform, a moribund phone distribution outlet in Ghana and bogus agricultural exportation in Nigeria.
Tingo Pay was not complete when the Tingo Group went public with an announcement. Stanbic IBTC had to make a disclaimer to clear the air:
“Our attention has been drawn to a number of press publications currently circulating online purported to have been issued by Tingo International Holdings.
“In the said publication, Tingo was reported to have claimed it would be using Stanbic IBTC Bank’s payment gateway to power its new product, Tingo Pay… we must state categorically that Stanbic IBTC has NOT concluded any agreement with Tingo International in respect of any payment system whatsoever, including “Tingo Pay”.”
UNKNOWN LINKS WITH PETER OBI
Mmobuosi had been praised as an associate of Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, in the days leading to the 2023 Nigerian presidential election. ringroad.com.ng search engine could not confirm any links between Mmobuosi and Obi.
Mmobuosi appeared in pictures with many influential people. Pictures of Mmobuosi and Anthony Joshua, former heavyweight boxing champion, are on the internet.
From left to right: Akon, Peter Obi and Dozy Mmobuosi
Dozy Mmobuosi and Anthony Joshua
ringroad.com.ng search engine also saw Akon, a multi-award-winning singer, at the same function with Mmobuosi and Obi.
Mmobuosi had a pose with Reno Omokri, a Nigerian author and social media influencer, in a picture he posted on Facebook in October 2020.
Dozy Mmobuosi and Reno Omokri at the centre
The Times UK said that Mmobuosi had some influential friends in a March 9 profile. One of Mmobuosi’s influential friends The Times spoke with was Ozwald Boateng, British fashion designer and Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
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PUSH BACK BY PAID SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Less than 24 hours after Hindenburg Research published its expose on Mmobuosi, Blueprint Afric shared an article about Mmobuosi “revolutionising technology”. The article published in May was reshared on Twitter on Wednesday.
Screenshot showing published article on Blueprint Afric with time of publication under the headline
Blueprint Afric refers to itself as an internet newspaper for Africans. “We exist to deliver accurate, up-to-date, dependable news to millions of Africans,” it stated on its Twitter profile.
Under Blueprint Afric’s tweet are positive comments about Mmobuosi, including paragraphs cut out of the same article the tweet promoted.
ringroad.com.ng search engine saw that most of the positive comments came from Twitter accounts used for brand promotion, social media marketing and advertisers.com.ng By ADNG.NG CHEAPEST SOCIAL MEDIA ADS TO TOP FB IG USERS.
None of the comments under the tweet countered Hindenburg’s report from the previous day with facts or figures.
The post Media Influencers Defend Dozy Mmobuosi’s ‘Billion-Pound Business Fraud’ After Expose appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
