The Lagos Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on May 30, 2022, secured the conviction of one Adeyemi Emmanuel before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos for offence bordering on retention of proceeds of crime to the tune of $150.
He was accused of engaging in illegal online activities to defraud his victims in an investment scam.
The charge reads: “Adeyemi Oluwashina Emmanuel, sometime between the period of March 2020 and October 2021, within the Ikeja Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, retained the aggregate sum of $150 obtained from unsuspecting members of the public.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.
The prosecuting counsel, Ahmed Yerima, who gave a review of the facts, informed the Court that the defendant was arrested sometime in September 2021 after operatives of the EFCC, acting on intelligence report, raided the hideout of suspected internet fraudsters in the Alagbado area of Lagos State.
“Upon his arrest, he was brought to the office of the EFCC, where he gave his statement and his mobile device was analysed at the EFCC ICT laboratory,” he said.
Yerima also told the Court that several email accounts were discovered on his device, adding that the fraudulent documents he used to engage in investment scam were printed out in his presence.
“He created Instagram accounts and claimed that he was into cryptocurrency business and used same to lure unsuspecting members of the public to invest,” he added.
According to Yerima, the defendant “confessed that he benefited $150 from one of his victims by the name Adams”.
Yerima further told the Court that the defendant confessed that the money was traded online and the equivalent in Naira was paid into his bank account.
He, thereafter, tendered in evidence the statement of the defendant to investigators, the fraudulent documents printed out from his device and the manager’s cheque of N75,000 issued by him as restitution.
There was no objection from the defence counsel, F. Olatokunbo.
Justice Solebo admitted them in evidence as Exhibits A, B and C respectively, and pronounced him guilty as charged.
The defendant, who sobbed in the courtroom when he was given a chance to address the Court, also pleaded for mercy, saying that he regretted his actions and would never go back to them
Thereafter, Justice Solebo sentenced him to three months in prison, with an option of N50,000 fine.
Items recovered from him were also ordered forfeited to the Federal Government.
