The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture to the Federal Government, the sum of N280,555,010 traced to Obinwanne Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa made the order of final forfeiture on Thursday following the submissions of EFCC’s Counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had told the court that the funds were warehoused in the Nigerian bank accounts of Invictus Oil and Gas Limited and Invictus Investment Limited, respectively.
The anti-graft agency had also said the two firms were owned by Invictus Obi whom it described as, “a strong leader of a cyber-crime syndicate that specializes in business e-mail compromise”.
In 2016, 31-year-old Obi was celebrated by Forbes as one of Africa’s “most outstanding 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30.”
He was, however, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in August 2019.
Obi is standing trial in the United States for allegedly defrauding some American citizens to the tune of $11m.
He was alleged to have committed the offence “through fraudulent wire transfer instructions in a massive, coordinated, business e-mail compromise scheme.”
