U.S. Court Fines Nigerian Tingo Group Founder $250m After SEC Lawsuit

A U.S. Federal Court has fined a Nigerian businessman, Dozy Mmobousi, over $250 million following his non-appearance in a civil suit filed against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to a Financial Times report, the SEC last year charged Mmobousi and three of his companies, including two Nasdaq-listed enterprises, for fraud described as inflating the “financial performance metrics of his companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide.”

The Court judge, Jesse M Furman of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled against Mmobousi and his Agri-Fintech Holdings and Tingo International Holdings after he failed to make a legal appearance in the civil complaint filed by SEC.

Tingo Group, Agri-Fintech Holdings and Tingo International Holdings failed to answer, plead, or otherwise defend themselves in the case,” the Court judge wrote in the ruling.

Mmobousi has been ordered to pay over $250 million and barred from serving as a public company director.

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Meanwhile, Mmobousi and his companies went public last year when he bid to buy Sheffield United, a Yorkshire-based club that played in the English Premier League last year and is now in the second tier of English football.

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