By Peter Omopo
Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals, Huang Haoyu, also known as Ken, and An Hongxu, to a cumulative 46 years’ imprisonment each over a multi-billion-naira cybercrime and money laundering scheme.
The two men, who are directors of Genting International Co. Limited, were also given the option of a N56 million fine. In addition, the court ordered them to undertake three days of community service and directed that they be repatriated to China after serving their sentences and completing the community service.
The convicts were among 792 suspected internet and cryptocurrency fraud suspects arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos in December 2024.
A third defendant, Audu Friday, pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to stand trial.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, defence counsel Bridget Omateno informed the court that Huang and An had decided to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty. Upon re-arraignment, both men pleaded guilty to the seven-count charge filed against them, while Friday maintained his not guilty plea.
Prosecution counsel Bilkisu Buhari-Bala urged the court to convict the two directors based on their admission of guilt, noting that the prosecution had previously called two witnesses before the change of plea.
Justice Osiagor subsequently convicted and sentenced the duo.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of assets recovered during investigations from locations in Victoria Island and Ikoyi to the Federal Government.
Items forfeited include 1,596 mobile phones, 2,120 office chairs, 544 office tables, 194 routers, 43 computer systems, a network server, 126 air-conditioning units, generators and vehicles, hundreds of mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards across various networks, and other electronic devices and household items.
According to the charges, the defendants conspired in 2024 to unlawfully access computer systems in a manner aimed at destabilising Nigeria’s economic and social structure. They were accused of recruiting Nigerian youths to impersonate foreign nationals online for financial gain, in violation of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024.
They were also charged with procuring individuals to retain $1,262,000 USDT in a Binance wallet and $1,300,203 USDT in a Bybit wallet, funds they reasonably ought to have known were proceeds of fraud, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Additionally, the court heard that between August and December 2024, the defendants retained N3,407,824,740.78 in Genting International Co. Limited’s Union Bank account, funds believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
They were further accused of transferring N913,922,740.29 to an account belonging to one Duliang Pan, who is currently at large, and N106,950,000 to Lagos Oriental Hotel Limited.
Separate counts against Audu Friday and the company include allegations of unlawful foreign exchange transactions running into billions of naira, in breach of the Foreign Exchange Monitoring and Miscellaneous (Provisions) Act, and failure to submit required declarations to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering.
The trial of Audu Friday is expected to continue at a later date.
