Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, on Wednesday convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals and directors of Genting International Co. Limited, Huang Haoyu (also known as Ken) and An Hongxu, to a cumulative 46 years’ imprisonment each, with an option of a ₦56 million fine, over a multi-billion-naira cybercrime and money laundering scheme.
The court also ordered the convicts to undertake three days of community service and directed that they be repatriated to their country of origin after serving their sentences and completing the community service.
The duo were among 792 suspected internet and cryptocurrency fraud suspects earlier arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos in December 2024. However, a co-defendant, Audu Friday, pleaded not guilty and will face trial separately.
At the resumed hearing, counsel to the defendants, Miss Bridget Omateno, informed the court that the two directors had changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty. Following the re-reading of the seven-count charge, Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu pleaded guilty, while Audu Friday maintained his earlier plea of not guilty.
Prosecution counsel, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, urged the court to impose the maximum sentence to serve as a deterrent, noting that some of the charges attract life imprisonment while others carry up to 14-year jail terms.
In his judgment, Justice Osiagor convicted the two men and ordered the forfeiture of multiple assets recovered during investigations to the Federal Government. Properties affected include premises located on Oyin Jolayemi Street and Bishop Oluwole Street in Victoria Island, as well as locations on A.J. Marinho Drive and Modupe Alakija Crescent in Ikoyi.
Items forfeited include over 1,500 mobile phones, more than 2,000 office chairs, hundreds of office tables, routers, computer systems and servers, air-conditioning units, generators, vehicles, mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards across various networks, and other electronic devices.
According to court documents, the defendants were accused of conspiring in 2024 to access computer systems in a manner capable of destabilising Nigeria’s economic and social structure by recruiting Nigerian youths to impersonate foreign nationals for financial gain, contrary to the Cybercrimes Act.
They were also charged with laundering large sums of cryptocurrency, including over $2.5 million USDT held in Binance and Bybit wallets, and retaining more than ₦3.4 billion in company accounts believed to be proceeds of fraud.
Further allegations include the transfer of over ₦913 million to an associate currently at large and ₦106.9 million to a Lagos-based hotel. Separate charges against Audu Friday and the company involve alleged unlawful foreign exchange transactions and failure to comply with anti-money laundering reporting obligations.
Proceedings are expected to continue against Audu Friday, who has maintained his innocence.