A federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos state, has ordered the interim forfeiture of digital wallet assets worth $222,729 to federal government.
Gatekeepers News reports that Alexander Owoeye, the presiding judge gave the order on Monday, following an ex-parte application filed by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Owoeye also ordered EFCC to publish the notice in a national newspaper, allowing interested parties to appear before the court within 14 days and explain why they should not be permanently forfeited to federal government.
EFCC said the digital wallet assets were recovered from the syndicate of 792 suspected fraudsters arrested for cryptocurrency and romance scams.
Members of the syndicate which include 114 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Khazartans, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian, were arrested on December 10, 2024, at a seven-storey building in Victoria Island, Lagos.
At the court proceedings, Zeenat Atiku, counsel to EFCC, told the court that digital wallet assets were “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful activity”.
She said the agency had received intelligence about the alleged large-scale fraud involving foreign nationals operating in Lagos.
Atiku added that the syndicate financed its operations through a company identified as Genting International Co. Limited (GICL).
