The Federal High Court in Abuja has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the go-ahead to arrest and detain six promoters of the failed Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX).
Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order on Thursday following the EFCC’s prayer seeking an order of the court to issue arrest warrants for the suspects and another order to remand them in custody pending the conclusion of an investigation into a billion-dollar fraud.
The suspects - Adefowora Abiodun Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim - are accused of operating an investment scheme and defrauding people.
The EFCC's lawyer, Fadila Yusuf, said the six used "their company ST Technologies International Limited, promoted another company Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) by making adverts and luring unsuspecting members of the public to invest cryptocurrencies on the CBEX investment platform.”
The victims were promised a 100 percent return on investment in one month.
“The victims were made to convert their digital assets into a stable coin of USDT for onward deposit into the suspects' crypto wallet," Yusuf stated.
“The victims were initially given full access to the platform to monitor their investment. Following deposits valued at over 1 billion dollars by the victims, the CBEX investment platform became inaccessible, and they could no longer withdraw from the investments.
“The victims later discovered that the said scheme was a scam."
The anti-graft agency intends to place the suspects, believed to be on the run, on a red watchlist so that they can be traced and arrested.
