Naija Blog — A Lagos-based Nigerian man, Ehiremen Aigbokhan, is facing serious allegations from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for his involvement in a cryptocurrency scam linked to the 2025 inauguration of Donald Trump.
The FBI filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize assets linked to Mr. Aigbokhan after he allegedly defrauded a donor of 250,300 USDT.ETH, worth over ₦460 million at the black-market rate.
The details, first reported by Peoples Gazette, show the scam was executed using a Business Email Compromise (BEC)strategy — where official email domains are spoofed to deceive unsuspecting victims.
How the scam worked
Ahead of the Trump-Vance inauguration on January 20, 2025, the suspects reportedly created fake email domains nearly identical to those of the official Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.
FBI catches up with crypto trail
Once the funds hit the scammers' wallets, about 215,000 USDT.ETH was quickly moved into several other wallets to cover the digital trail.
However, the FBI responded swiftly, requesting assistance from Tether, the company behind USDT. Tether froze the wallets on December 31, 2024, halting further movement of the stolen funds.
Further digital forensics linked the wallet activity to an account opened on Binance in October 2024 — under the name Ehiremen Aigbokhan. Investigators confirmed the account had no prior deposits before receiving the fraud proceeds.
Court filings also show that IP address tracking and email login data traced the operations back to Lagos, Nigeria, further implicating Mr. Aigbokhan.
Funds recovered so far
According to U.S. court documents:
20,017 USDT.ETH was seized from Aigbokhan’s wallet
Another 20,336 USDT.ETH was recovered from a connected address: 0xC7bdBA7ffB126F68E8454C
Together, this adds up to ₦60 million+ at the current black-market exchange rate.
The case is being handled by Rick Blaylock Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who has asked the court to approve full forfeiture of the assets.
FBI seeking arrest warrant
Beyond freezing the assets, the FBI is actively pursuing an arrest warrant for Mr. Aigbokhan, and may push for extradition if he is apprehended.
This case adds to a growing list of transnational cybercrimes involving Nigerian fraud rings and emphasizes the increasing use of cryptocurrency laundering techniques in global financial fraud.
As of press time, Mr. Aigbokhan has not responded to the allegations, and Nigerian authorities have not confirmed any arrest.
