Court Charge Crypto Trader for Internet Fraud

On Friday, October 6, 2023, a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, found Peer-to-Peer cryptocurrency dealer Lawrence Success Karinate guilty of computer-related fraud.

On Monday, the anti-graft organization announced this in a formal statement posted to its website, efcc.gov.ng.

In accordance with the declaration, Success was found guilty of a single count of criminal activity that had cybercrimes as its subject and was penalized under Section 22(2)(b) of the 2015 Cybercrimes (Prohibition, etc.) Act.

The count charge read, “That you, Success Lawrence Karinate, sometime in 2023, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, fraudulently held out yourself on social media platforms, as a female, bearing the name “Jessie Randall”, a fashion influencer, to unsuspecting members of the public, with intent to gain advantage for yourself and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, etc.) Act, 2015.

However, the statement showed that the defendant, who However, the statement showed that the defendant, who was sorry for his behavior, begged for forgiveness and promised the court of his resolve to refrain from performing the act again.

The part of the statement that said “He pleaded “guilty” to the one-count charge preferred against him” read.

Chikezie Kingsley, the defendant’s attorney, pleaded with the court for leniency, pointing out that the defendant was a first-time offender.

Justice Oweibo handed out the verdict and fined Karinate N200,000.