The trial of two alleged hackers, Abayomi Oluwasesan and Onifade Adeniyi, who are accused of stealing more than $87.8 million from the account of a major cryptocurrency investment firm, was approved by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to News About Nigeria the charges marked FHC/ABJ/CR/289/2023 that were presented to the court by the Inspector General of Police, the defendants reportedly got access to the Afriq Arbitrage Company’s account in October 2022 and stole every penny out of it.
They allegedly bought expensive automobiles and homes with the stolen money.
The prosecution revealed that the defendants, who fled the country, were later captured with the assistance of Interpol.
Others who were involved in the scam, besides the first defendant, Oluwasesan, who had previously worked for the company, are currently on the run, according to authorities.
Although the defendants were initially set to enter a plea on Wednesday, the case was halted because they were without a legal representative.
The police attorney, Mr. Wisdom Madaki, informed the court when the case was called that the two had been brought from the FCID (Force Criminal Investigation Department) for the arraignment.
The defendants were properly served with a copy of the charge against them, he informed the court.
Due to the development, trial Justice Binta Nyako postponed the defendants’ anticipated arraignment to next Monday after confirming there was no confirmation that the trial notice had been delivered to them or their attorney.
The defendants were charged with several counts, including: “That you, Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of the same place, date, and time in the aforesaid judicial division did convert the sum of $87,883,904 050 property of Afriq Arbitrage Company to yourselves, property derived directly from proceed of theft to conceal disguising the Illicit origin or source of the money and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 18(1) of the Money a (Prohibition) Act LFN.
