The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced funds linked to the failed CBEX cryptocurrency investment scheme to at least four countries, raising concerns that full restitution to victims may be unattainable.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
He revealed that the commission had frozen several accounts tied to the scheme and recovered a significant—but undisclosed—sum of money.
“We have been able to block some accounts. We have been able to freeze some funds, which I will not be able to give you a figure, but some reasonable amount of funds, we have been able to freeze,” Olukoyede said.
He explained that the majority of the illicit transactions were executed via cryptocurrency wallets based outside Nigeria, making recovery efforts complex.
“I will not sit down and tell you that we are going to restore every victim. It will become practically impossible because quite a certain amount of money has been dissipated and not within our system,” he said.
According to him, investigations have so far linked the fraud to operations in three or four foreign jurisdictions.
He further revealed that most of the scheme’s masterminds are foreign nationals.
Three suspects are currently in custody and have reportedly made “very useful statements,”
Olukoyede added. The EFCC is also working with international law enforcement agencies to recover stolen funds and track down remaining suspects.
The CBEX scandal came to light in April when investors reported being unable to access their funds.
The Securities and Exchange Commission later confirmed that the platform was unregistered and operating illegally.
On April 30, the EFCC declared Elie Bitar, a foreign national, wanted in connection with the estimated $1 billion scam.
A Federal High Court in Abuja also approved the arrest and detention of six alleged CBEX promoters.
In addition to the international suspects, eight Nigerian nationals have also been declared wanted as investigations continue.
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