Flutterwave, one of Nigeria’s largest software unicorns, has been accused of “insider trading, fraud, and perjury” over a four-year period, according to an investigation report.
The study mostly accuses Olugbenga Agboola, Co-Founder of Flutterwave, of impersonation, insider trading, and unethical workplace behavior in one of the most devastating claims leveled against one of Africa’s top Tech Unicorns.
This was revealed in an investigation report on the company published on Tuesday by independent investigative journalist David Hundeyin, titled “Flutterwave: The African Unicorn Built On Quicksand,” in which he accused the company of fraud, perjury, and insider trading, casting a pall over one of Africa’s most respected tech startups.
The piece has also gone viral on social media, with discussions taking place on Twitter spaces and ClubHouse, among other places. Mr Hundeyin also agreed to an audio chat on Twitter Spaces, where he discussed the story with listeners.
The exposé was based on conversations with three former Flutterwave employees, with whom the writer claims he had a lengthy conversation for his report. Mr. Olugbenga Agboola “GB,” the founder of Flutterwave, was the target of the accusations.
He accused Mr, Olugbenga Agboola (GB), the founder of Flutterwave of engaging in “insider trading” by offering to buy “stock options” from employees at a price “lower” than the “market price”.
He further claimed that this was a violation of US law that may result in jail time.
He also accused GB of impersonating and double-dealing by utilizing his contact as a staff member of Access Bank (Nigeria’s largest bank by assets) to give Flutterwave deals without the knowledge of naïve clients or Access Bank. At the time, GB was also employed at Access Bank.
He also accused Flutterwave of engaging in “fraudulent” activities by dealing Arik Air without “paperwork” thus facilitating transactions without proper documentation.
“Basically someone at Arik started a payments company to process payments for Arik, but he was processing through Flutterwave. So he got a cut of every Arik transaction – and Arik transaction volumes were among the biggest at Flutterwave – but there was no reseller agreement. Isn’t that basically corruption?”
Mr. Hundeyin also 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, 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.”
