The stocks of Tingo, a Nigerian-based agritech company, plunged by as much as 80.27 percent to close at $0.07 on Tuesday evening after Hindenburg Research released a report alleging fraud activities in the company.
BusinessDay monitored Tingo’s stocks on investing.com as soon as the report was released.
Hindenburg Research, which has acquired a reputation as an activist investor, said it was shorting Tingo Group Inc which is listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the ticker TIO, because it believes the company “is an exceptionally obvious scam with completely fabricated financials.”
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A Tingo executive denies the allegations in the report Hindenburg Research released describing them as lies. The company, the executive said, plans to release an official statement once it ends a crucial meeting.
The Hindenburg report alleged that the Tingo which was founded and led by Dozy Mmobuosi, has major red flags. One of them is the Mmobuosi’s claims to have developed the first mobile payment app in Nigeria, which Hindenburg said was allegedly denied by the app’s actual creator.
Mmobuosi also allegedly claimed to have received a PhD in rural advancement from a Malaysian university in 2007. Hindenburg said it contacted the school to verify the degree and the school allegedly wrote back saying it did not know anyone by the name.
Tingo Group, a holding company with presence in Nigeria and other markets, provides food processing and sales, mobile handset sales and leasing, and an online food marketplace called “Nwassa:
Following the report on Tuesday, Block & Leviton, a Boston-based law firm with a reputation for fighting corporations on behalf of investors, said it was investigating Tingo Group for potential securities law violations.
