‘We have recovered reasonable amount’ – EFCC gives update on N1.3trn CBEX crypto fraud

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that the agency has recovered some money from the digital investment platform Crypto Bridge Exchange trading platform.

Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC has made arrests in connection with the CBEX 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 has been able to trace and recover part of it.

He stated, “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 have already been arrested, noting that the agency is 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, however, said the investigation has been challenging because the fraudsters used “non-custodial wallets,” which means there was no identity attached to the accounts, making it harder 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 said.

In April, CBEX collapsed, leaving investors with reported losses of over N1.3 trillion.

The platform became inaccessible after users faced repeated withdrawal issues, which were soon followed by the sudden disappearance of their account balances.

The incident, however, triggered widespread reactions, especially on social media, where users have voiced their anger, concerns, and disappointment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the CBEX digital trading platform is not registered with the agency.

A federal high court in Abuja granted permission to the EFCC to arrest and detain six CBEX promoters over the $1 billion investment fraud allegation.

Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, gave the order following an ex parte application made by Fadila Yusuf, counsel to the EFCC.