Chris Cleverly
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Christopher John Cleverly (born 27 July 1967) is a British
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
,
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
,
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
and businessman. A
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
and past
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
TV presenter, he has been involved with ventures in Africa, including the Made in Africa Foundation,
AIM AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...
-listed African Potash, and Agri-Fintech Holdings, the main shareholder in
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
-listed Tingo Group, a company implicated in US fraud allegations in late 2023.


Early life and education

Cleverly was born in Essex, United Kingdom, in July 1967.He holds an
LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
from
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
(1988) and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from the
University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
(2014). Cleverly's cousin is British politician
James Cleverly Sir James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve Commissioned officer, officer who served as Home Secretary from November 2023 to July 2024 and as Foreign Secretary (Unit ...
, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
MP for Braintree and former UK
Secretary of State for the Home Department The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
.


Career

Cleverley was called to the bar in 1990. He was the youngest head of
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
's chambers while at Trafalgar Chambers (1999). He is today a practising barrister with Millennium Chambers in London. During the 1990s, Chris Cleverly presented on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and contributed to other television channels, radio and newspapers. In 2005, with British designer
Ozwald Boateng Ozwald Boateng, OBE () (born 28 February 1967) is an English fashion designer, best known for his trademark twist on classic tailoring and bespoke styles. Early life Boateng was born in the Muswell Hill district of London on 28 February 1967, ...
and a Ugandan prince, Hassan Kimbugwe, Cleverly co-founded a business, Made in Africa.Ozwald Boateng (10 July 2012) ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
''
"Britain Needs Africa's Help"
, June 2012
In 2007, for Made in Africa, Cleverly wrote a speech, “The Tipping Point,” delivered by civil rights activist
Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...
, at the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
summit. The Made In Africa Foundation was established in 2011 (and incorporated in the UK in March 2012) by Boateng, Nigerian businessman
Kola Aluko Kola Aluko (born 20 October 1969), is a Nigerian businessman with interests in African infrastructure development and aviation. Formerly based in Nigeria, Aluko was the Co-Chief Officer and executive director of Atlantic Energy, an indigenous, pri ...
and Nigeria-based oil and gas company Atlantic Energy to support transformational and large scale African developments and infrastructure projects. Cleverly was CEO of the Foundation, and oversaw day-to-day operations; Boateng and Aluko were trustees and Atlantic Energy executive Dayo Okusami was a director of the foundation. The Made in Africa Foundation aimed to assist in raising foreign investment and greater public awareness, and, with Emmanuel Mbi, COO of the
African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...
, Cleverly launched the $1.5bn “Africa50” fund in conjunction with the AfDB on 14 June 2013; the fund was then formally launched at Nasdaq on 30 September 2013. Later described by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' as a someone "who ... has skipped from venture to venture with little apparent success", Cleverly joined
AIM AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...
-listed African Potash as its chairman in 2015. In the same time period,
Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
and
Mark Simmonds Mark Jonathon Mortlock Simmonds (born 12 April 1964) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, and was first elected in 2001, succeeding Sir Richa ...
also joined as directors. African Potash was developing the Lac Dinga potash project in the Republic of Congo. However, the business collapsed in value and was delisted from AIM. Later renamed Block Commodities it then focused on
blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...
technology in 2018. In 2019, Block Commodities was licensed to grow and import medicinal
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
, striking deals to buy land in Sierra Leone. However, the deals then collapsed, Cleverly stepped down as chair, and the firm's shares were suspended. Also in 2019, Cleverly, then a partner at
private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...
firm PAI Capital, led a bid to buy
West Ham United Football Club West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their f ...
.


Tingo

Cleverly is a director and the president of a publicly listed US corporation, Agri-Fintech Holdings, Inc (from August 2021 until April 2023, Tingo, Inc), a Nigeria-based agri-
fintech Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...
company, which is a holding company and, with a 19.41% holding, the largest shareholder in
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
-listed Tingo Group, Inc. Dozy Mmobuosi was the founder and CEO of Tingo Mobile which was acquired by Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc.
Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and ...
, former president of
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
, and
Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga (born 1955) is a Nigerian who served as the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment of Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. He was first nominated by President Olusegun Obasanjo and appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan as ...
, former Nigerian minister for Trade, Industry and Investment were on the board of Tingo as of June 2020, prior to Cleverly joining. Cleverly was appointed president in August 2021 following acquisition of Tingo Mobile by the publicly listed US corporation. In June 2023, shares in Tingo Group plunged in value after a report from
short seller In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the market value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of the more common long position, where the investor will profit if the market value ...
Hindenburg Research Hindenburg Research LLC was a U.S. investment research firm with a focus on activist short-selling founded by Nathan Anderson in 2017. Named after the 1937 ''Hindenburg'' disaster, which they characterize as a human-made avoidable disaster, the ...
said the company was an "exceptionally obvious scam". The company denied the Hindenburg report claims, which it said contained "errors of fact" and "misleading and libellous content", and appointed lawyers
White & Case White & Case LLP is a global white-shoe law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the firm has 46 offices in 31 countries worldwide. History The firm was founded on May 1, 1901, when two Wall Street lawyers, Justin DuPratt White, 31, a ...
to review the report's claims. On 13 November 2023, the US
Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...
halted trading in Tingo Group shares and those of related entity Agri-Fintech Securities after finding inaccuracies in their disclosures. The SEC asserted there were "questions and concerns regarding the adequacy and accuracy of publicly available information in the marketplace ... since at least May 10, 2022, about the financial statements and business operations of Tingo Group and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Tingo Mobile Ltd," and "since at least February 9, 2023, about the financial statements and business operations of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tingo Foods PLC." On 18 December 2023, the SEC announced charges against Mmobuosi and three US-based entities: Tingo Group Inc, Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc and Tingo International Holdings Inc, alleging fraudulent financial claims to defraud investors. "Tingo Mobile is a fiction,” the SEC said. “Its purported assets, revenues, expenses, customers and suppliers are virtually entirely fabricated." As an example, the SEC said Tingo Group's fiscal year 2022
Form 10-K A Form 10-K is an annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that gives a comprehensive summary of a company's financial performance. Although similarly named, the annual report on Form 10-K is distinct from the ...
reported a balance of $461.7m in various bank accounts while allegedly only having a combined balance of less than $50 at the end of the year; the SEC's 72-page complaint outlines allegedly fraudulent transactions involving Tingo Mobile in December 2022 and Tingo Foods in February 2023. Auditor
Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...
had given the firm a clean, unqualified audit for its 2022 accounts, leading Hindenburg to question if Deloitte had "missed or rushed through procedures". Sir
David Trippier Sir David Austin Trippier, RD, DL (born 15 May 1946) is a British Conservative Party politician and author. Early life Trippier was born on 15 May 1946. He was educated at Bury Grammar School. Political career Trippier fought Rochdale in ...
is a director of Tingo and Chair of its Audit Committee. On 2 January 2024, Mmobuosi was charged with
securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information.conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
charges. The charges allege that from at least in or about 2019 through in or about 2023, that Mmobuosi orchestrated a scheme to enrich himself by falsely representing that the Nigerian companies he founded, Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods, were operational, profitable businesses generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue respectively. In September 2024, in response to the SEC charges, a US federal court in New York ordered Mmobuosi to pay over $250 million in fines and barred him from serving as a director of a public company. Mmobuosi and three US-based companies, Tingo Group, Agri-Fintech Holdings, and Tingo International Holdings, "failed to answer, plead, or otherwise defend" themselves in the case.


Other activities

Cleverly is a member of the International Tribunal for Natural Justice, which holds hearings on issues which it claims are being ignored by governments, giving "publicity to discredited medical professionals or conspiracy theorists." In 2019, at an ITNJ hearing, he publicly questioned the safety of 5G. A portrait of Cleverly is in the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
collection.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleverly, Chris Living people 1967 births Black British lawyers 21st-century Black British people 21st-century British lawyers 21st-century English businesspeople British people of Sierra Leonean descent English barristers Lawyers from Essex Alumni of King's College London English television presenters Private equity and venture capital investors