*Corporate Law Firm, Banwo And Ighodalo Indicted For Alleged Conflict Of Interest And Unethical Conduct
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A recently released investigative report by Nigerian investigative journalist, David Hundeyin has revealed allegations of insider trading, fraud, abuse of power and sexual harassment at Africa’s tech giant, Flutterwave.
Flutterwave which is a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent became the pride of the nation’s tech industry when it became the highest valued tech start-up in Africa following its $3 billion dollar valuation earlier this year. The company founded by Olugbenga Agboola, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji has since 2018 led Nigeria’s fintech sector.
However, in the report published by Hundeyin, the company is alleged to continue to promote unethical work and professional practices which include insider trading, fraud, abuse of power and harassment.
In the report published on Tuesday and titled, “Flutterwave: The African Unicorn Built On Quicksand”, Hundeyin claimed that his report was based on interviews with three ex-employees of Flutterwave whom he said had an extensive discussion for his story. The accusation was largely on Mr. Olugbenga Agboola “GB”, the founder of Flutterwave.
Notable among the allegations was how the tech unicorn cheated a shareholding employee by forcing them to sell their shares at 82.5% less than market value to an investment vehicle allegedly controlled by Agboola, a phenomenon that has been described as insider trading according to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The article also accused Agboola of using his position as CEO to sexually harass female employees in the company. In a leaked audio clip of Agboola allegedly addressing an internal meeting on the issue, the Flutterwave founder said it was not against the company’s policy for staff to enter romantic relationships as long as it was consensual.
In addition to that, it was alleged that Agboola was running Flutterwave even when he was still an employee at Access Bank; while also leveraging the bank’s resources to secure deals and favours for the company.
“Present at a Flutterwave remote meeting while still concealing his involvement in the company from outsiders including Access Bank; he forgets that Iyin is supposed to be answering questions as Flutterwave’s “CEO,” and he jumps in to take charge of the meeting, only realising afterward that he forgot to alter his voice, potentially revealing his true identity as Gbenga Agboola to the other parties on the call. He then instructs an employee to lie that he was not the one whose voice they just heard.
“In a message from April 2017, GB remarks that he is being too popularly identified with Flutterwave for his liking. At this point, he is still pretending to be Olugbenga Agboola, Head of Digital Factory & Innovation, Access Bank, while his official Flutterwave email address deliberately does not include a name tag yet,” the article read in part.
Equally important, the report disclosed that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into Flutterwave’s activities. This was after it received information of possible insider trading.
The report also caught the attention of legal professionals following the involvement of one of Nigeria’s leading corporate law firms, Banwo and Ighodalo in the scandal.
Mr. Hundeyin accused legal firm Banwo and Ighodalo “B&I” of caving in to the demand of Flutterwave by advising a client to drop a case against the Tech Unicor after they had initially told the client otherwise.
“Suddenly and without notice, shortly after presenting a professional opinion stating that Flutterwave was in the wrong and had a case to answer, Banwo and Ighodalo “B&I” quietly informed Jennifer that they had been retained by Flutterwave and they would have to drop her case. Apparently whenever Flutterwave wants anything in Nigeria – ethical or not – GB just signs a cheque and makes any problem go away.”
Flutterwave claims to have processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion to date; while also serving more than 900,000 businesses including customers like Uber Technologies, Flywire, Booking.com, Alibaba’s Alipay, etc.
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