The Nigerian businessman seen as a potential buyer of English football club Sheffield United has faced lawsuits in the US and UK for not paying what he owed.
(Bloomberg) — The Nigerian businessman seen as a potential buyer of English football club Sheffield United has faced lawsuits in the US and UK for not paying what he owed.
Dozy Mmobuosi was sued by one of his top executives at Nigeria-based subsidiary Tingo Mobile for failing to pay him for at least half a year’s work in a $300,000 Connecticut lawsuit. Sukhdeep Bhogal filed a case against Mmobuosi in the US a year ago. Bhogal, an Indian national, says in court documents that he worked for Mmobuosi and assisted the firm in a $400 million cash-raising process for a Tingo unit.
Bhogal worked for Tingo companies “for more than six months but was paid almost no wages during that time, and was deprived of all other bonuses and equity promised to him at the start of his employment, representing hundreds of thousands of dollars of wage theft,” Jennie Woltz, his lawyer in the US suit said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in Feb. 2022 a UK court ordered Tingo International Holdings Inc. to pay a British property firm £87,000 ($105,000) in unpaid rent to settle “damages for trespass” and “continued use and occupation” of a home in the upmarket village of Radlett – northwest of London – that he used as his private residence. The Watford County Court order was used in the US proceedings. Ultimately, Tingo paid what it owed by October, according to the Connecticut suit.
Mmobuosi, the Watford court and Lis Properties didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mmobuosi’s agri-focused fintech company Tingo Inc., that trades over the counter in the US, was down 16% on Friday, valuing the firm at $393 million.
Mmobuosi has recently emerged as a potential buyer of English Championship side Sheffield United, which has been struggling to meet some of its financial commitments despite currently sitting in the second automatic promotion slot for a return to the riches of the Premier League.
The club, known as the Blades, was put up for sale by Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. It’s currently under a player transfer ban for failing to pay installments on players previously purchased.
Director’s test
For a deal to be green-lit by the English authorities, any buyer has to undergo the English Football League’s director’s test, which examines the source of the person’s wealth and whether they are fit to own a team.
“Whilst the League is in receipt of the Share Purchase Agreement and Owners and Directors’ Test declaration, alongside some evidence of source and sufficiency of funding, it has previously raised a number of additional queries with the proposed purchaser and the club,” the league said in a statement.
“The EFL has been awaiting a response on those queries for some time and until the League is satisfied that the requirements of its Regulations have been met, it will not process a change of control at the club,” it added.
Mmobuosi is the chief executive officer and main shareholder of the two Tingo defendant companies in the US suit, Bhogal said when he filed the case.
In a response to the case his lawyers said while there is no dispute that Bhogal is owed compensation, there are substantial factual issues at stake as well as confusion over who he is seeking the funds from.
The Tingo group, which was founded by Mmobuosi, says it does most of its business in Nigeria and is mainly active in leasing smartphones used by farmers to access markets to grow and sell their produce.
(Updates with share move in the fifth paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.