Justice
A.
Owoeye
of
the
Federal
High
Court
sitting
in
Ikoyi,
Lagos,
on
Monday,
February
3,
2025,
ordered
the
interim
forfeiture
of
digital
wallet
assets
valued
at
$222,729.86
to
the
Federal
Government
of
Nigeria.
The
digital
wallet
assets
were
recovered
from
an
alleved
syndicate
of
792
cryptocurrency
investment
and
romance
fraudsters
who
were
arrested
on
December
10,
2024
by
operatives
of
the
the
Economic
and
Financial
Crimes
Commission,
EFCC,
during
a
surprise
operation
at
7,
Oyin
Jolayemi
Street,
Victoria
Island,
Lagos.
The
Judge
gave
the
order,
following
an
ex
parte
application
filed
and
moved
by
the
EFCC
through
its
lawyer,
Zeenat
Atiku,
pursuant
to
Section
44
(2)
(b)
of
the
1999
Constitution
and
Section
17
of
the
Advance
Fee
Fraud
Act
2006.
Moving
the
application
for
interim
forfeiture
of
the
recovered
digital
wallet
assets,
Atiku
argued
that
the
Commission
had
received
intelligence
about
a
large-scale
fraud
involving
foreign
nationals
operating
in
Lagos.
According
to
her,
the
syndicate
financed
its
operations
through
a
company,
Genting
International
Co.
Limited
(GICL).
Atiku
further
submitted
that
the
digital
wallet
assets
were
“reasonably
suspected
to
be
proceeds
of
an
unlawful
activity.”
After
listening
to
the
EFCC
counsel,
Justice
Owoeye
ordered
the
interim
forfeiture
of
the
digital
asset
wallets
.
The
Judge
also
directed
the
EFCC
to
publish
the
order
in
a
national
newspaper
to
allow
anyone
with
an
interest
in
the
digital
wallet
assets
to
appear
before
the
court
within
14
days
to
show
cause
why
it
should
not
be
permanently
forfeited
to
the
Federal
Government.
The
court
adjourned
the
matter
till
March
7,
2025
for
a
“compliance
report”.
Dele
Oyewale
Head,
Media
&
Publicity
February
3,
2025
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