Agboola is alleged to have created a phantom ‘co-founder’ identity to give himself more shares in the company’s early days, and offered share prices below the company’s valuation to employees who wanted to cash in on their vested options. These employee stock sales, the story alleged, went to an investment vehicle Agboola controlled.

The company now faces public scrutiny on multiple issues from this week’s exposé, including a supposed ethics investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 (Flutterwave is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in California). The SEC neither confirmed nor denied the investigation citing privacy provisions. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the former Flutterwave co-founder, said there was one but disputed the Substack journalist’s characterization.