Nigeria anti corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has declared eight persons wanted in connection with the ₦1.3 trillion fraud committed by an online Cryptocurrency platform, Crypto Bridge Exchange, CBEX, allegedly an unregistered financial trading company in Nigeria, but, according to EFCC, a registered company, ST Technologies International Limited promoted or aided the suspected criminal trading platform, this occurred after the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC in a statement on April 17, 2025 gave public assurance to prosecute the promoters of the suspected fraudulent trading platform, and the statement from SEC indicated probably that there is porousness in the Nigeria Intelligence system, signaling that the Nigeria Intelligence assets like the media, State Security Services, SSS, Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Nigeria Financial Intelligency Unit, NFIU of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Force Intelligence Department, FID of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF among others are apparently too weak in protecting the West Africa Sovereignty against financial invasion and terrorism; despite the huge billions of naira of taxpayers monies spent yearly by the Presidency through the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA and CBN on the aforementioned Intelligence assets, the state assets failed to be alive their societal responsibilities, and a criminal organisation invaded the Nigeria media space, openly advertised its criminal activities for long and successfully stole, evacuated and converted trillions of Nigeria currency to foreign currency or currencies, causing huge pressure and devaluation of the Naira, and thus, making costs of living go higher, with no Nigeria Intelligence asset including the Press being able to proactively track and forestall the act of national terrorism committed against the Nigeria State.

Among those declared wanted on Friday by EFCC includes; Adefowora Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, and Seyi Oloyede, and others named by EFCC as alleged foreign accomplices include; Johnson Okiroh Otieno, Israel Mbaluka, Joseph Michiro Kabera and Serah Michiro.

SEC had stated that; ‘The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“The Commission”) has been drawn to recent media reports/publications on the activities of CBEX (Crypto Bridge Exchange).

CBEX, which also operates under the corporate identity of ST Technologies International Limited, Smart Treasure/Super Technology, has held itself out as a digital asset trading platform, offering high returns to investors in Nigeria.

The Commission hereby clarifies that neither CBEX nor its affiliates were granted
registration by the Commission at any time to operate as a Digital Assets Exchange, solicit investments from the public or perform any other function within the Nigerian capital market.

Preliminary investigations carried out by the Commission have revealed that CBEX
engaged in promotional activities to create a false perception of legitimacy, in order to
entice unsuspecting members of the public into investing monies, with the promise of
implausibly high guaranteed returns within a short timeframe.

CBEX has failed to honour withdrawal requests from their subscribers and abruptly closed their physical offices, amid mounting complaints.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 196 of the Investments and Securities Act
2025, the Commission would collaborate with relevant law enforcement agencies to
take appropriate enforcement action against the CBEX, its affiliates and promoters.

The Commission uses this medium to remind the public to refrain from investing in or dealing with any entity offering unrealistic returns or employing similar recruitment-based investment models.

Prospective investors are advised to verify the registration status of investment platforms via the Commission’s dedicated portal:www.sec.gov.ng/cmos before transacting with them”.

It would be recalled that the digital trading platform came to a halt earlier this month after the money in Nigerian investors’ wallets vanished.

It was observed that the CBEX also locked its telegram channels and postponed its withdrawals while giving investors the lifeline of $2,000 for $200 verification and $1,000 for $100 verification.

Analysing the crash on X space organised by Trending X as monitored and reported by Punch Newspaper, a cryptocurrency expert and security analyst, Taiwo Owolabi said data has shown that the money was moved to a TRX address (yourself:TDqSquXBgUCLYvYC4XZgrprLK589dkhSCf) and a total volume stolen so far in USDT is $847 million and likely to increase.

Owolabi stressed that the invested funds are gone because CBEX is not a licensed platform, and the creators designed a weak website to look like ByBit, which is a legitimate trading platform.

“They designed the weak website to convince people in the future that it was a security breach that affected them. Apparently, when you make payments, you pay them into a TRX account, and then, immediately, they move it from that TRX wallet, gather it, convert it to USDT, then to ETH. So, when you are logging into your account, there is literally no money on your profile.

“What you see are just numbers. All the daily activities you do to ‘trade’ increase your money. All the AI trading is fake. When it’s time for withdrawal, they will send you another person’s money.

“Since, you won’t be leaving them because of greed. You will most likely put the money back and even more. So, they will use that same money to pay another person. As you spread the word for them, more people will join and do the same.”

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has declared eight individuals wanted over the alleged investment fraud perpetrated on the Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) trading platform.

The EFCC action is coming in the wake of the warrant of arrest and order granted the EFCC by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday for six suspects.

Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order following an ex parte application filed by the EFCC through its counsel, Fadila Yusuf.

Spokesperson of the EFCC, Dele Oyewole, made the announcement in a post on Friday with the suspected persons photographs attached against their names, with the residential address of some of them in Nigeria stated.

In the EFCC court affidavit in support of the motion, EFCC said preliminary investigation into the intel revealed that the defendants “using their company ST Technologies International Limited, promoted another company Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) by making adverts and lured unsuspecting members of the public to invest crypto cryptocurrencies on the CBEX investment platform”.

The EFCC said the defendants promised an unrealistic return on investment of up to 100 per cent.

Recall that Nigerians who invested in the platform have been thrown into despair after the crash of the business recently.

About ₦1.3 trillion was reportedly wiped out from the investors’ account after the digital trading platform boasted of giving investors 100 per cent Return On Investment (ROI) in 30 days.

Operating under the CBEX name, the group allegedly encouraged people to deposit digital assets, particularly the stablecoin USDT, into the platform. After amassing a significant amount of funds, the platform was abruptly shut down, leaving investors stranded and unable to recover their money.

The commission is calling on the public to come forward with any information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects. Tips can be reported to any EFCC office nationwide, including branches in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Gombe, or Port Harcourt.

“The public is hereby notified that the persons whose photographs appear above are suspected foreign accomplices wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for faud allegedly perpetrated on an online trading platform called Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX)

Anybody with useful information as to their whereabouts should please contact the Commission in its Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, llorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja offices or through 08093322644; its e-mail address: info@efcc.gov.ng or the nearest Police Station and other security agencies”, some parts of the EFCC statement reads in quote.