A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals to 46 years in prison each for their roles in a multi-billion-naira cybercrime and money laundering scheme, court officials said.
Justice Daniel Osiagor found Huang Haoyu, also known as Ken, and An Hongxu — directors of Genting International Co. Limited — guilty on a seven-count charge. The judge gave each man the option of paying a 56 million naira ($ — ) fine in lieu of the prison term. He also ordered them to perform three days of community service and directed that they be repatriated to China after serving their sentences and completing the service.
The two were among 792 suspected internet and cryptocurrency fraud suspects arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos in December 2024.
A third defendant, Audu Friday, pleaded not guilty and will stand trial.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, defense lawyer Bridget Omateno told the court that Huang and An wished to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty. The court granted the request and the charges were read again before the two men entered guilty pleas. Friday maintained his innocence.
Prosecutor Bilkisu Bala-Buhari urged the court to convict the pair based on their admissions, noting that some of the counts carry penalties ranging from 14 years’ imprisonment to life in prison.
In his ruling, Osiagor imposed cumulative sentences totaling 46 years for each defendant and granted the prosecution’s request for the forfeiture of assets recovered during the investigation.
Items forfeited to the federal government include 1,596 mobile phones, 2,120 office chairs, 544 office tables, 194 routers, 43 computer systems, a network server, 126 air-conditioning units, generators, vehicles, mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards and other electronic and household items.
Authorities said the items were recovered from multiple locations in Lagos, including Victoria Island and Ikoyi.
According to the charges, the defendants conspired in 2024 to unlawfully access computer systems and recruit Nigerian youths to impersonate foreign nationals online for financial gain, in violation of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended.
Prosecutors said the men also laundered proceeds of fraud, including retaining $1,262,000 in USDT in a Binance wallet and $1,300,203 in USDT in a Bybit wallet. Between August and December 2024, they allegedly retained 3.4 billion naira in Genting International’s Union Bank account, funds believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The charges also allege that 913.9 million naira was transferred to an associate, Duliang Pan, who remains at large, and 106.95 million naira to Lagos Oriental Hotel Limited.
Proceedings are expected to continue against Friday and the company on separate charges, including alleged unlawful foreign exchange transactions and failure to make statutory declarations to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering.
