The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared two individuals, Folashade Odelana and Bamidele Ayodele Abiodun, wanted in connection with a multi-million-naira cryptocurrency fraud linked to Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a digital asset trading platform.
In a public notice released via its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday, June 4, the commission accused the duo of orchestrating elaborate fraudulent schemes that led to financial losses for unsuspecting investors using the CBEX platform.
The EFCC urged members of the public with credible information on the whereabouts of the suspects to come forward, assuring that all tips will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.
In May, the anti-graft agency announced the recovery of some money from the digital investment platform CBEX.
This was announced by its chairman, Mr Ola Olukoyede, in an interview with TVC.
The EFCC Chairman added that the agency’s operatives had also arrested some suspects in connection with the fraud.
“We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” he said.
He explained further that stolen money was in cryptocurrency and the EFCC had been able to trace and recover part of it.
He also acknowledged that the agency experienced difficulties while converting the funds back to dollars in cash.
He added: “Even though in the crypto wallet, the same way the money was taken from them. There is no way you will get them in dollars. There is no way you get the dollars in cash without necessarily going through the same process.”
The EFCC boss added that some suspects had already been arrested, noting that the agency was still pursuing others who are on the run.
“We have gone far. We have made a reasonable arrest.
“We are not going to give out much because we don’t want the process to be disrupted. We are still after quite a number of people we have declared wanted,” he said
He stated that the investigation had been challenging because the fraudsters utilised “non-custodial wallets,” meaning there was no identity linked to the accounts, making it more difficult to trace the criminals.
“We are still investigating a lot of wallets and the wallets they created are called noncustodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody.
“So, from the noncustodial wallet, they moved it to some wallets in Europe, Eastern Europe, particularly Cambodia and from there, they dispersed the money. We have been able to block some of these wallets where money has not been dispersed.
“That is to the extent that we have gone. I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this,” he added.
SaharaReporters earlier reported how CBEX crashed, wiping out the life savings of thousands of Nigerians, particularly young people, who believed they were investing in a legitimate platform.
Adefowora Abiodun, a suspected promoter of the scheme, voluntarily surrendered to the agency in April.
This came after Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled to approve the EFCC’s request to arrest and detain six promoters of CBEX, including Adefowora.
Abiodun, along with five others – Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim – was declared wanted by the EFCC following submissions made by the commission’s counsel, Fadila Yusuf.
All six promoters were earlier declared wanted by the EFCC for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme valued at over $1billion.
Following the declaration, Abiodun, accompanied by his lawyers, turned himself in at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.
Abiodun expressed his willingness to cooperate with the EFCC.
The counsel for the suspect, Babatunde Busari, stated that his client decided to submit himself for investigation to clear his name and correct the narrative being widely circulated in the media.(SaharaReporters)
