On Tuesday, the Nigeria Police Force announced that Linus Williams, a self-described cryptocurrency billionaire, had been taken into custody on charges of fraud, financing of terrorism, and failure to comply with national regulations.
Williams, the CEO of the Blord Group of enterprises, will be the subject of due diligence during the inquiry, according to Force Public Relations Officer Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the arrest in a post on X.com on Tuesday.
“The FCID (NPF-NCCC) is currently investigating complaints lodged against BILLPOINT TECHNOLOGY, BLORD GROUP, BLORD REAL ESTATE LTD, and BLORD JETPAYE LIMITED,” the post stated.
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Allegations of bitcoin fraud, computer-related fraud, fraud assistance over the Internet, funding for terrorism, and non-compliance with regulatory frameworks are among these charges.
“We’ll conduct our inquiries with due diligence. Nigeria’s internet needs to be safe and secure at all times. We’re determined to make that happen.
Crypto billionaire legal battle with EFCC
This reporter recalls that on August 31, 2020, he was previously taken into custody by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Awka, where he was interrogated along with several other young people who were also charged with online fraud.
But after just two years of legal battle, he was cleared by the Enugu State Federal High Court in a historic ruling on May 7, 2022. He dedicated this victory to the Nigerian Youths and went on with his cryptocurrency business until his most recent arrest and incarceration on Tuesday, July 16, in Abuja.
FBI prosecute techpreneur for online scam
In a similar development, the tech entrepreneur Kingsley Inegbedion has been charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in business email compromise schemes and romance scams. It is alleged that between April 2020 and May 2023, he and his accomplice, Efemena Igbe, who is still at large, pretended to be legitimate business owners to defraud American citizens.
The FBI claimed that the pair concealed the fraud by using fictitious corporate firms to accept fraudulent cash transferred into other accounts inside and outside the US.
In a statement, the FBI said it was pursuing property forfeiture and restitution for money obtained through the fraud scheme allegedly carried out by Inegbedion and Igbe. They claimed they used the stolen money to buy cashier’s checks and take cash out of several bank accounts.
The FBI statement stated, “The defendants, Efemena Igbe and Kingsley Inegbedion, shall forfeit to the United States of America, according to Title 18, United States Code, Section 982(a)(1), any property, real or personal, involved in such an offence, and any property traceable to such property including, but not limited to, a money judgement, that is, a sum of money in United States currency representing the amount of property involved in the offence.” This is in response to the indictment’s allegations of counts one through sixteen of the indictment.
As soon as the grand jury returned the indictment, Inegbedion was taken into custody.
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Past cyber fraud cases
Some Nigerians have recently been detained, prosecuted, and imprisoned for charges including but not limited to online fraud.
One such instance involved Ramon Abbas, also known as Hushpupi, who was convicted of laundering the proceeds of a school finance scam, business email hack, and other fraudulent cyber operations. The United States District Court sentenced him to 11 years and three months in prison.
Hushpuppi’s trial, which commenced following his apprehension in June 2020 at his hotel flat in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, ended with the ruling rendered by Justice Otis Wright II.
Don Alway, the Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Office, called Hushpuppi “one of the most prolific money launderers in the world” in the statement.
Similarly, Abbas’s colleague Olalekan Ponle, also known as Mr. Woodberry, entered a guilty plea to wire fraud and consented to forfeit $8 million in proceeds from the crime, high-end vehicles, and timepieces to a foreign government.
Woodberry pleaded guilty to count one of the indictments in a plea declaration filed at the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.
According to his plea deal, he must repay the seven firms he duped $8 million.
The document that contained Mr Ponle’s signed plea declaration read, “Defendant understands that by pleading guilty, he will subject to forfeiture to the United States all right, title, and interest that he has in any property constituting or derived from proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offence.”