Lagos court finds cryptocurrency trader guilty

Peer-to-peer, or P2P, cryptocurrency dealer Lawrence Success Karinate was found guilty of computer-related fraud by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos State.

Karinate was charged with one count of a cybercrime that was punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition etc.) Act of 2015 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Lagos Zonal Command.

“That you, Success Lawrence Karinate, sometime in 2023, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, fraudulently represented yourself on social media platforms as a female, bearing the name “Jessie Randall,” a fashion influencer, with the intent to gain advantage for yourself and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibitio

To the one-count charge that was brought against him, he entered a “guilty” plea.

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Usman Abubakar Ahmad, the EFCC’s attorney, brought Taiwo Owolabi as a witness after the defendant entered a guilty plea to review the case’s facts. On May 26, 2023, the defendant and several others, according to Owolabi, were detained in the Lekki district of Lagos State.

“After being apprehended, he was taken to the EFCC office where his HP computer and iPhone were examined. His gadgets were used to print out fraudulent documents, for which he paid restitution of N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira). He was questioned further and confessed to having taken $2000 (two thousand United States dollars) from a pig-butchering fraud, according to Owolabi.

Usman thereafter filed a request to provide the defendant’s extrajudicial statement, fake documents that he had printed from his laptop and iPhone as well as the management check he had written as evidence. Justice Oweibo found him guilty on all charges after admitting them as evidence A, B, C, C1, D, and E, respectively.

Karinate apologised for his part in the illegal activities during his testimony and gave the court his word that he wouldn’t commit online fraud ever again.

Chikezie Kingsley, the defendant’s attorney, begged the court for leniency while pointing out that the defendant was a first-time offender.

Justice Oweibo, on the other hand, fined him N200,000.