The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Enugu Zonal Directorate, has arraigned a 26-year-old man, Godslove Munachiso Obiwuru, for alleged involvement in a cryptocurrency account takeover linked to an investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Obiwuru was arraigned before Justice M. T. Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court, Enugu, on a two-count charge bordering on money laundering. He was accused of retaining 0.042 Ethereum, valued at about $50, in a Binance wallet suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Following his plea, EFCC counsel, A.Y. Abdullahi, requested a trial date and sought his remand in custody. Defence counsel, Abel Anih, asked for a short adjournment to file a bail application. The court subsequently adjourned the matter for hearing of the bail request and ordered his remand in EFCC custody.
According to the EFCC, Obiwuru was arrested on August 5, 2025, after a petition from the FBI alleged his role in a cryptocurrency account hijacking scheme. The FBI reported that in November 2022, a U.S. citizen’s Coinbase account was compromised, resulting in the theft of 90,410.126 Gold Retriever Tokens (GLDN) worth about $307,394 at the time. Part of the stolen assets was allegedly traced to a Binance account operated by the defendant.
EFCC investigations also revealed that Obiwuru received cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from two different victims.
