Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has 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 N56 million fine, for their roles in 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 China after serving their sentences and completing the community service.
Huang and An were among 792 suspected internet and cryptocurrency fraud suspects arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos in December 2024.
However, a third defendant, Audu Friday, pleaded not guilty to the charges and is to face a full trial.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, counsel to the first and second defendants, Bridget Omateno, informed the court that the two directors had opted to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty.
She recalled that at the last adjourned date, the court had been notified that counsel on record had been properly debriefed. Although there was no plea bargain agreement with the prosecution, she urged the court to allow the charges to be read afresh to enable the defendants formally enter new pleas.
Upon the re-reading of the seven-count charge by the court registrar, Huang and An pleaded guilty, while Friday maintained his earlier plea of not guilty.
Prosecution counsel, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, urged the court to convict the two men in view of their admission of guilt, noting that the prosecution had already called two witnesses before the defendants changed their pleas.
Buhari-Bala told the court that counts one and two attract life imprisonment, while counts three and four carry 14-year jail terms. She prayed that the court impose the maximum sentence to serve as a deterrent, and also applied for the forfeiture of all items recovered during the investigation to the Federal Government.
The items include properties located on Oyin Jolayemi Street and Bishop Oluwole Street in Victoria Island, as well as traced investments linked to the convicts.
In his judgment, Justice Osiagor granted the forfeiture order and sentenced the two men accordingly.
The court ordered the forfeiture of extensive assets recovered from multiple premises in Victoria Island and Ikoyi, including 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, hundreds of mattresses and bunk beds recovered from various addresses in Lagos, and thousands of SIM cards across various networks.
The commission alleged that the defendants conspired in 2024 to wilfully access computer systems organised to destabilise Nigeria’s economic and social structure by recruiting and deploying Nigerian youths to impersonate foreign nationals for financial gain, contrary to the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024.
They were also accused of retaining $1,262,000 USDT in a Binance wallet and $1,300,203 USDT in a Bybit wallet, funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of fraud, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The commission further alleged that between August and December 2024, the defendants retained N3,407,824,740.78 in Genting International Co. Limited’s Union Bank account, funds believed to be proceeds of fraud.
They were also accused of transferring N913,922,740.29 to an account belonging to one Duliang Pan, who is currently at large, and N106,950,000 to Lagos Oriental Hotel Limited.
Separate counts against Friday and the company include alleged unlawful foreign exchange transactions running into billions of naira and failure to submit mandatory declarations to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, contrary to relevant laws.
The judge subsequently adjourned further proceedings to February 13, 2026.
