The Federal Excessive Courtroom in Abuja has jailed the secretary of an organization behind a Ponzi scheme and ordered the forfeiture of greater than N848 million after he pleaded responsible.
That is in line with a courtroom judgement signed by Justice M.G. Umar on 4 November.
The courtroom convicted Ayoola Olakitan, secretary of Fortunetech Restricted, on two counts of working a enterprise with out correct registration and making a false assertion to investigators from the Impartial Corrupt Practices and Different Associated Offences Fee (ICPC).
The choose sentenced the official to 12 months in jail, with an possibility of a N50,000 tremendous. The courtroom additionally ordered Fortunetech Restricted to be wound up.
“The first Defendant/Convict is hereby ordered to be wound up below the Corporations and Allied Issues Act, 2020 and its belongings forfeitedto the Federal Authorities of Nigeria; The 2nd Defendant/Convict is hereby sentenced to Twelve (12) Months Imprisonment or pay the sum of Fifty (50) Thousand Nairafine solely,”it mentioned.
In keeping with the cost sheet, Fortunetech operated an e-commerce enterprise labeled as a “non-financial enterprise” with out registration between December 2023 and December 2024, an offence below the Cash Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Mr Olakitan was additionally convicted for falsely claiming to ICPC investigators that he had utilized for a Central Financial institution of Nigeria licence to function worldwide cash switch companies.
Asset forfeiture
Following the conviction, the courtroom granted the prosecution’s request for asset forfeiture.
A complete of N212 million present in 15 financial institution accounts held by Fortunetech Restricted and a associated firm, Fortunetechnic International Providers Restricted, was forfeited to the federal authorities as proceeds of crime.
In a separate order, the courtroom directed that N636 million be returned to one of many scheme’s victims, Mohammed Haruna, into his Providus Checking account. The full quantity recovered stood at ₦848 million
The case was filed as Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Fortunetech Restricted & Anor (Cost No: FHC/ABJ/CR/529/2025).
Ponzi sample
Ponzi schemes have continued to thrive in Nigeria, concentrating on residents in search of fast monetary aid amid excessive inflation, unemployment, and a weakening forex. The schemes usually promise traders extraordinary returns and collapse as soon as new deposits can now not maintain payouts.
Nigeria’s most notorious case was MMM, which crashed in 2016 after accumulating billions of naira from Nigerians.
Since then, related ventures, together with MBA Foreign exchange, Chinmark, and a sequence of on-line funding golf equipment have defrauded hundreds of individuals, a lot of whom have but to get better their funds.
The Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) has repeatedly cautioned Nigerians to keep away from unregistered and unregulated funding schemes.
It mentioned real funding platforms should be licensed below the Investments and Securities Act and shouldn’t promise assured or unrealistic returns.
The SEC strongly suggested traders to confirm any funding alternative by the Fee’s official channels earlier than parting with their cash.
Regardless of repeated warnings, new Ponzi-style operations proceed to emerge, typically disguised as cooperative societies, cryptocurrency platforms, or e-commerce ventures promoted on social media.
