The Police will Monday, July 24, arraign two alleged hackers, Abayomi Oluwasesan and Onifade Adeniyi, who were accused of stealing over $ 87.8 million from the account of a global crypto investment company.
The Inspector General of Police, in the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/289/2023, alleged the defendants gained access to the account of Afriq Arbitrage Systems (AAS) in October 2022 and diverted all the funds in it.
According to the Police, the defendants used the stolen funds to acquire exotic cars and houses.
The prosecution disclosed that the defendants, who escaped from the country, were subsequently apprehended with the help of Interpol.
According to the police, aside from the 1st defendant, Oluwasesan, who hitherto worked with the company, other persons that were involved in the fraud, are presently at large.
Meanwhile, though the defendants were initially scheduled to take their plea on Wednesday, however, the matter could not proceed owing to the absence of any lawyer to represent them.
When the matter was called up, police lawyer, Mr Wisdom Madaki, told the court that the duo were brought from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID for the arraignment.
He told the court that the defendants were duly served with a copy of the charge against them.
However, the defendants, who had already mounted the dock, blamed the absence of their lawyer in court on the failure of police to notify them that the case would come up.
Owing to the development, trial Justice Binta Nyako, after she confirmed that there was no proof of service of the trial notice on the defendants or their counsel, deferred their planned arraignment till next Monday.
Specifically, some counts in the charge against the defendants, read: “That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ of No 1 Nnamdi Azikiwe Golf Estate Lagos and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of No. 5 Unity Close, on or before October 2022, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to commit a felony, to wit: Computer-related fraud and thereby committed an oftence contrary to Section 27 and punishable under Section 14 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention ETC Act) 2015.
“That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of the same place, date and time in the aforesaid judicial division did convert the sum of $87,883,904 050 property of Afriq Arbitrage Company to yourselves, property derived directly from proceed of theft with the aim of concealing or disguising the Illicit origin or source of the money and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(1) of the Money a (Prohibition) Act LFN.
“That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of the same place, date and time in the aforesaid judicial division, knowingly and without authority, fraudulently changed the ownership credentials of the Company Chief Executive Officer of Afriq Arbitrage Company and gained access to millions of the subscribers’ investments and diverted the sum of $87,883,904 USD to yourselves and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 of Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention ETC) Act 2015.”
