Investing

Former African Gold CFO Charged With Embezzling Over $5 Million From Employer and Investors

Greg Morcroft

Published: January 5, 2023 10:19 pm

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Cooper Morgenthau, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of African Gold Acquisition Corp. (US:AGAC), with stealing over $5 million from his employer and from investors in two other companies. Morgenthau, who served as CFO of African Gold from October 2020 until his firing in August 2022, is also the CFO of Strategic Metals Acquisition Corp. I and II.

According to the complaint, Morgenthau wired more than $1.2 million of African Gold’s money to his personal accounts between June and July 2021 and used the funds to trade in “meme stocks” and crypto asset securities. In an attempt to cover up the unauthorized transactions, the SEC alleges that Morgenthau doctored the company’s monthly bank statements and sent these fabricated statements to African Gold’s accountants and auditor, along with letters falsely attesting to the accuracy of the financial statements. As a result, the publicly filed reports contained false and misleading information about African Gold’s financial condition.

To cover his losses, Morgenthau is accused of raising approximately $4.7 million from investors in Strategic Metals. The SEC alleges that Morgenthau deposited some of this money into African Gold’s bank account in order to conceal his embezzlement. When he ran out of money in August 2022, his scheme was exposed and he was fired by African Gold.

Morgenthau is facing charges for violating several federal securities laws, including the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

This article originally appeared on Fintel