Court Seizes $222K in Digital Assets from Alleged Crypto Fraudsters

Court Seizes $222K in Digital Assets from Alleged Crypto Fraudsters
A federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the interim forfeiture of digital wallet assets worth $222,729 to the federal government.
Justice Alexander Owoeye issued the order on Monday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed an ex-parte application.
The judge directed the EFCC to publish a notice in a national newspaper allowing anyone with a claim to the assets 14 days to appear before the court and explain why they should not be permanently forfeited.
The EFCC said it recovered the digital assets from a syndicate of 792 suspected fraudsters arrested for cryptocurrency and romance scams.
The syndicate includes 114 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhstani nationals, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian.
Authorities arrested the suspects on December 10, 2024, at a seven-story building in Victoria Island, Lagos.
During the court hearing, EFCC counsel Zeenat Atiku told the court that the digital assets were “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful activity.”
Atiku said the agency acted on intelligence about a large-scale fraud operation involving foreign nationals in Lagos.
Investigations revealed that the syndicate financed its activities through a company called Genting International Co. Limited (GICL).
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