EFCC Arraigns Suspect Wanted By FBI Over Alleged Cryptocurrency Account Takeover

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Godslove Munachiso Obiwuru, a 26-year-old suspect wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), before Justice M. T. Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu, on a two-count charge bordering on money laundering.

Count one of the charge reads: “That you, Godslove Munachiso Obiwuru, sometime in 2022 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, retained 0.042 Ethereum (digital currency) equivalent to $50 (Fifty United States Dollars) in a Binance wallet account with the address 0xD62C9DA42BDe76a7Be113ABA225456C57320A569 which you know or reasonably ought to know, is a proceed of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 20 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

He, however, pleaded “not guilty” to the two counts. In view of his plea, counsel to the EFCC, Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC, ASE I A.Y Abdullahi, prayed the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded at a Correctional facility.

However, the defence counsel, Abel Anih, prayed the court for a short date to enable him file an application for bail before the court.

The matter was, thereafter, adjourned for hearing of bail application while the defendant was remanded in the EFCC custody.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said the defendant was arrested on August 5, 2025, following a petition by the FBI alleging that the defendant was involved in auctioning cryptocurrency account takeover scheme.

According to the petition, in November 2022, a Coinbase cryptocurrency belonging to a citizen of the United States of America was compromised, leading to the theft of 90,410.126 Gold Retriever Tokens (GLDN), worth approximately $307,394.00, at that time.

Further investigation by the FBI revealed that part of the stolen cryptocurrency funds were transferred to a Binance account belonging to the defendant.

However, preliminary investigations by operatives of the Special Task Force of the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the anti-graft Commission, revealed that the defendant received cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from two different victims.