The Federal High Court in Abuja has indicted Official Gredo Limited, a Nigerian crypto company, for conducting USDT/Naira transactions without a licence.
According to a Nairametrics report, Official Gredo was convicted by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the High Court on Wednesday in accordance with the company’s plea bargain arrangement with Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Also, it was ordered that Official Gredo forfeit N140 million held in the company’s account to an EFCC recovery account.
Recall that last Monday, we reported that two Nigerian crypto companies, Paparaxy Global Ventures Limited and Lemskin Technologies Limited also agreed to refund a sum of 160 million naira to the Nigerian federal government over unauthorised USDT transactions. The two companies made this decision following an earlier indictment for conducting financial transactions, which include USDT/NGN trading, without possessing a valid license to operate.
Also, last month, EFCC secured an order from the Federal High Court to freeze N548.6 million in bank accounts belonging to suspected crypto users on platforms like ByBit, KuCoin, and others. This and more are part of actions by the Nigerian authorities to clamp down on what they brand as FX market manipulation on the part of some crypto actors.
High court indicts Official Gredo
According to the Nairametrics report, the sentencing (suit FHC/ABJ/CR/308/2024) followed a plea bargain by Nnamdi Okereke, Official Gredo’s director, when an amended money laundering charge was read to him on Wednesday. For clarity, a plea bargain allows an accused person to admit being guilty to a crime in exchange for a lesser conviction.
At the arraignment, Official Gredo was accused of failing to report in writing to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) a single transfer of N76,462,500.00 paid from Renderstack Technologies Ltd into the Providus Bank Ltd account No. 5400608751 operated by Official Gredo, as specified under section 10(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
The report says Official Gredo, Nnamdi Okereke as well as other companies and persons were indicted by the EFCC for involving in transactions with USDT/Naira, despite not being an authorised dealer in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market. It is important to note that the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act defines any foreign exchange negotiation not permitted by law as an offence.
On Wednesday, Nnamdi Okereke pleaded guilty to the one-count charge and the EFCC lawyer, Martha Babatunde and the defendant’s counsel, I.O. Offodili, urged the court to affirm the content of the plea bargain as agreed by the parties.
According to the plea bargain, the defendant admitted to committing the offence and has restituted N140,000,000 to the EFCC, being part of the amount associated with the disputed transaction.
Justice Inyang Ekwo while passing his ruling convicted the company and affirmed the plea bargain agreement. He stated that the plea bargain agreement between the complainant and the defendant shall not prevent further investigations from being carried out on other persons or companies with respect to the case. He also added that the defendant’s director shall, at all material and reasonable times, be available to assist the EFCC during further investigations related to this case.
In addition, Justice Inyang Ekwo sentenced Official Gredo to a fine of N1M to be paid to the Federal Government of Nigeria, stressing that the defendants should pay the amounts within 14 days or the anti-graft agency, EFCC would bring the director, Nnamdi Okereke, back to be sent to prison.
Clampdown on crypto companies
2024 has been a year of clampdown on crypto companies and users in Nigeria due to the alleged use of digital currencies for terrorism financing and its role in FX market manipulations.
Last week, we reported that two Nigerian crypto companies, Paparaxy Global Ventures Limited and Lemskin Technologies Limited agreed to refund a sum of 160 million naira to the Nigerian federal government over unauthorised USDT transactions.
This development and more follow moves by Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser to identify and nab alleged money laundering, foreign exchange contraventions, and terrorism financing activities on cryptocurrency exchange platforms operating in the country.
