The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Nigerian auditor Olayinka Oyebola $200,000 and banned him and his firm from auditing US public companies due to their part in covering up the Tingo Group fraud.
The SEC’s targets Olayinka Oyebola and his Lagos-based accounting firm after they were found to have helped conceal false audit reports linked to Tingo Group. Once listed on Nasdaq and touted as a leading agri-fintech company revolutionizing African agriculture, Tingo collapsed after regulators revealed it was a “massive fraud.”
Tingo’s founder, Dozy Mmobuosi, was previously fined over $250 million and barred from the US securities market after fabricating key parts of the company’s financial statements and customer data. The scandal shook the tech and financial sectors, raising concerns about audit oversight and fraud detection.
Oyebola’s firm audited Tingo’s books, which misleadingly claimed $462 million in cash reserves. The SEC found only $50 actually existed. Instead of exposing these inconsistencies, Oyebola allegedly signed off on fake audit reports that helped maintain the illusion of legitimacy.
The SEC also accused Oyebola of lying to later auditors, which allowed the fraud to go unchecked for years. For these offenses, a New York federal court ordered Oyebola and his firm to pay $100,000 each in fines, banned them permanently from violating US securities laws, and suspended their ability to audit US public companies for at least six years.
Antonia M. Apps, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, criticised their actions, saying
Oyebola and his firm violated the public trust. Gatekeepers must be held accountable when they support fiction over truth
The case exposes challenges in auditing, as studies show auditors catch only a small fraction of fraud cases. Even Deloitte, a global “Big Four” firm that audited Tingo, faced criticism for not spotting obvious issues.
The SEC worked internationally with the Israel Securities Authority during the investigation, stressing its broad reach in fighting financial crime linked to fraudsters worldwide.
