The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned two promoters of the now-collapsed and fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme known as “CBEX” before the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly promising Nigerians an 88 percent return on investments without obtaining written consent from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among other allegations.
The defendants, Avwerosuo Otorudo and Chukwuebuka Ehirim, entered their pleas before Justice Mohammed Umar, following the EFCC’s amended charge sheet marked FHC/ABJ/CR/216/2025, as seen by Naijaonpoint.
Naijaonpoint had previously reported that EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale pledged to recover Nigerians’ lost investments in the alleged N1.3 trillion CryptoBank Exchange scam, promising action in collaboration with Interpol and other international agencies.
The EFCC reiterated this commitment while addressing public concerns over the massive losses suffered by Nigerians who invested in CryptoBank Exchange, a digital investment platform currently under investigation for fraud totaling N1.3 trillion.
Count 2 states: “That you, AWEROSUO OTORUDO and CHUKWUEBUKA EHIRIM, sometime between January 2024 and May 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst not being a bank or persons authorized to take deposits, invited the public through advertisement to deposit funds with CRYPTO BRIDGE EXCHANGE (CBEX), and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 44(1) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 and punishable under Section 44(2) of the same Act.”
“While the EFCC alleges that the defendants were involved in the investigation of $1 billion, there is no such charge against the defendants. There is no fact stating that the defendants obtained funds by false pretence,” the lawyer stressed, while urging the court to grant bail.
“The defendants have been alleged to have connived with others at large in promoting an investment scam that defrauded innocent Nigerians of their hard-earned money,” she said.
This development is a fallout of the EFCC’s ongoing probe of six CBEX promoters in connection with an alleged $1 billion scam targeting Nigerian victims.
The bill’s passage was also expected to influence investor confidence, foster transparency, and modernize Nigeria’s financial market, especially amid an ongoing legal clampdown on illegal crypto-dealing companies. On March 29, 2025, President Bola Tinubu signed the ISA into law