A Nigerian auditor and his accounting firm have been fined a total of $200,000 and effectively barred from auditing U.S. public companies due to their involvement in the massive fraud scheme linked to agri-fintech company Tingo Group.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Olayinka Temitope Oyebola and his Lagos-based firm, Olayinka Oyebola & Co. (Chartered Accountants), had agreed to these penalties as part of a settlement over charges that they helped facilitate the multi-year fraud orchestrated by Tingo’s founder, Dozy Mmobuosi.

On August 11, 2025, a final judgment was entered in a New York federal court, which revealed that Oyebola and his firm had played a key role in deceiving investors. The SEC’s complaint, filed the previous year, claimed that the auditors found that Tingo executives had fabricated audit reports bearing Oyebola’s signature for filings with the commission.

Rather than reporting this fraudulent activity, Oyebola allegedly took steps to assist Mmobuosi and Tingo in concealing the fraud. The SEC further stated that Oyebola made “material misstatements” to one of Tingo’s subsequent auditors, which led to investors, regulators, and the new auditor relying on the false reports.

According to the SEC, Oyebola’s assistance was crucial in allowing Mmobuosi to continue perpetrating the scheme, which involved falsifying his companies’ financial performance in order to defraud global investors.

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Oyebola and his firm consented to a judgment that included the following penalties:

• Civil Penalties: A fine of $100,000 for Oyebola, alongside an additional $100,000 fine for his firm. 
• Permanent Injunctions: They are permanently banned from violating key antifraud provisions of U.S. federal securities laws. 
• Professional Suspension: Both Oyebola and his firm are suspended from appearing or practicing before the SEC as accountants. They may apply for reinstatement after six years. 

This suspension effectively prevents them from auditing or offering accounting services to any publicly traded company in the U.S. or to any company submitting filings to the SEC.

The action taken against the auditors is a significant development in the aftermath of the Tingo Group scandal. Once a high-profile, Nasdaq-listed company that claimed to be transforming African agriculture, Tingo Group was exposed as a “massive fraud” by the SEC in late 2023.

The company’s founder, Dozy Mmobuosi, was charged with falsifying “nearly every aspect” of the business, including its financials and operations. In a separate judgment earlier this year, Mmobuosi and his entities were ordered to pay over $250 million in disgorgement and were permanently barred from the U.S. securities industry. The company has since ceased operations.

The case against Oyebola serves as a notable example of the SEC’s growing focus on holding “gatekeepers”—such as auditors and lawyers—accountable for their role in facilitating financial fraud, regardless of where they are based. By taking action against a Nigerian accounting firm, the SEC is sending a clear message that professionals who enable misconduct targeting U.S. markets will face severe consequences.

For Africa’s rapidly expanding tech ecosystem, the Tingo saga and the subsequent enforcement actions offer a stark reminder of the critical importance of robust corporate governance and the significant risks associated with accessing global capital markets.

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