The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two operators of the controversial Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), Avwerosuo Otorudo and Chukwuebuka Ehirim, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged multi-billion dollar investment fraud.
The duo, who appeared before Justice Mohammed Umar on Monday, are facing a three-count amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/216/2025, bordering on illegal financial operations, operating an unlicensed investment scheme, and obtaining funds from the public without regulatory approval.
According to the EFCC, the accused persons, alongside other fleeing CBEX promoters, allegedly defrauded unsuspecting investors by collecting public funds and promising outrageous returns of up to 88 per cent through a platform not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The commission said the offences contravene various sections of the Investment and Securities Act, 2025 and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020.
During Monday’s proceedings, EFCC counsel Fadila Yusuf informed the court of an amended charge filed on July 7 and urged the judge to substitute the previous charge. The request was granted without opposition.
Upon arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
Yusuf urged the court to remand the suspects in a correctional facility pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
However, defence counsel, Justice Otorudo, pleaded for bail, citing the suspects’ voluntary submission for investigation and lack of prior convictions.
He further argued that there was no concrete evidence of public fund deposits against his clients and described the charges as bailable, noting that two of the three counts carry a maximum sentence of five years or an option of a fine.
But EFCC’s counsel opposed the bail application, citing the risk of flight and the scale of the alleged fraud, which the commission claims is over $1 billion. “They only submitted themselves after being compelled. We still have other suspects on the run,” Yusuf argued.
Justice Umar ruled that the defendants be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending a ruling on their bail application, which he adjourned to July 18.
The anti-graft agency accused the suspects of running CBEX through a shell company, ST Technologies International Limited, and allegedly luring victims via aggressive online advertisements to invest in cryptocurrency. Victims were made to convert their funds into stablecoins (USDT), which were then deposited into CBEX-linked wallets.
Investigations revealed that after accumulating over $1 billion in digital assets from investors between January 2024 and May 2025, the platform became inaccessible, and investors lost all access to their funds.
In an earlier development, Justice Emeka Nwite of a sister Federal High Court had granted the EFCC’s application to detain six CBEX promoters, including Otorudo and Ehirim, pending the conclusion of the investigation.
The other suspects identified by the EFCC are Adefowora Abiodun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, and Seyi Oloyede.
The EFCC said the preliminary investigation established a prima facie case of investment scam against the suspects, revealing that ST Technologies was never licensed by SEC to carry out investment operations.
The commission also claimed that the suspects had vacated their last known addresses in Lagos and Ogun States, prompting the need for a court-ordered arrest and possible red alert notices.
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