Crime
FBI: Lagos Yahoo Boy Defrauds U.S. President Donald Trump
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize property belonging to Lagos-based fraudster, Ehiremen Aigbokhan for allegedly stealing more than N460 million in funds meant for U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
The FBI is also actively pursuing an arrest warrant for Mr Aigbokhan in connection with an alleged cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering scheme that targeted a donor intending to contribute to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.
According to legal filings seen by Peoples Gazette, Mr Aigbokhan and his co-conspirators allegedly carried out a sophisticated fraudulent operation using the notorious Business Email Compromise scheme to trick their victims into sending money to cryptocurrency accounts belonging to them.
In the weeks leading up to the inauguration on January 20, 2025, the FBI reported that fraudsters created several fake email addresses to mimic the legitimate ones used for the ceremony, which they sent to dozens of people, requesting donations for Mr Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
On December 26, 2024, one of these fake emails, with the address @t47lnaugural.com, was sent to a victim to mimic @t47inaugural.com, the official email of the co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, Steve Wiktoff.
The victim subsequently sent 250,300 USDT.ETH to the criminals. The 250,300 USDT.ETH is estimated to be worth over ₦400 million at the current black market rate.
Within days of receiving the money, the perpetrators immediately disbursed 215,000 USDT.ETH to several crypto wallets before the FBI caught wind of the scam and requested crypto operator Tether to freeze the accounts, which the company voluntarily adhered to on December 31, court documents showed.
Following the scam, the FBI immediately launched an investigation into the matter, and records of the crypto address associated with the scheme were traced back to Mr Aigbokhan in Lagos.
Investigations by the FBI revealed that part of the stolen funds were transferred to a Binance.com account registered to Mr Aigbokhan, who created the account in October 2024.
The Binance account had no prior deposits before receiving transfers from the scam wallet.
Further digital forensics linked the fraudulent email accounts and cryptocurrency transactions to Nigeria, with IP address data consistently tracing logins and email activity to Lagos, corroborating the connection to Mr Aigbokhan.
The agency said 20,017 USDT.ETH was seized from Mr Aigbokhan’s wallet, and another 20,336 USDT.ETH from 0xC7bdBA7ffB126F68E8454C, totalling over N60 million in black market rate, which Rick Blaylock Jr, the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is asking the court to declare its forfeiture.
Crime
BREAKING: Court Grants Sowore N200 Million Bail, With Fresh Conditions
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday granted bail to online publisher and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, but imposed stringent fresh conditions for his release.
Justice Umar Mohammed ruled that Sowore must provide two sureties, each executing a ₦200 million bail bond. One of the sureties must be a traditional ruler from Sowore’s community in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, while the second surety must own landed property within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Sowore is also required to surrender his international passport to the court’s deputy registrar for safekeeping. The court further directed that both sureties must be verified by counsel to the prosecution, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN.
The ruling comes after Sowore’s absence from court proceedings. On June 16, 2026, Justice Umar revoked the self-recognisance bail earlier granted to Sowore in December and issued a bench warrant for his arrest over allegations of cybercrime and criminal defamation.
Last Tuesday, the judge ordered that Sowore be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of his motion seeking a stay of execution of the revocation order and bench warrant. The court also dismissed Sowore’s application requesting that the judge recuse himself from the trial on grounds of alleged bias.
The Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Sowore over alleged criminal defamation stemming from social media posts on his official X and Facebook accounts in which he reportedly referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
Sowore’s lead counsel, R.O. Adakole, appealed to the court to release his client to him temporarily to enable the retrieval of Sowore’s passport from the US Embassy in Lagos.
Justice Umar adjourned the matter to July 6, 2026, for the continuation of hearing.
Crime
Lagos NSCDC Parades Five Suspected Vandals, Two Foreigners From Togo
.….As Army recovers stolen armoured cables, other Exhibits.
The State Commandant , Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC ), Lagos State Command , Mr Adedotun Keshinro , fnarc, today, Monday, 29th June , 2026 has paraded seven ( 7 ) male suspects between the ages of twenty seven ( 27 ) years to forty four ( 44 ) years old involved in various forms of crimes ranging from vandalism of critical national assets and infrastructure such as ; armoured cables , transformer cables , stealing of eight ( 8 ) lithium batteries and RRU inverter, which occured at various locations in the state .
Other suspects paraded today, include three ( 3 ) Togolese, male, aged 32 and 27 each, who deserted the Togolese Army and were apprehended around the Badagry axis of Lagos State .
While briefing the media, today, Monday, at the State Command’s Headquarters in Alausa, the Lagos State Commandant, said that following consistent community engagements with stakeholders in the state, the Command received credible intelligence through the Okun Ajah Community and Proton Security Ltd and responded swiftly leading to the arrest of two ( 2 ) male suspects at 1451HRS, on Saturday, 27th June , 2026 involved in the vandalism of MTN armoured cables.
The vandalized armoured cables were recovered with a shuttle bus popularly known as korepe with the plate number MUS109YH ( Benue State ).
The Command is still on the trail of 2 suspects, who are currently at large but connected to the vandalism of the armoured cables worth millions of Naira and will not rest on its oarse until they are also apprehended, prosecuted and convicted through the instrumentality of the court if found culpable.
In the ongoing efforts of the Command to take out vandals off the state, on Friday , 26th June , 2026, another male suspect was arrested by the Command’s operatives in Sogunle for vandalizing transformer cables .
Also another male suspect was apprehended at 1600HRS on Saturday, 15th June, 2026 for stealing eight ( 8 ) lithium batteries at Orchid road in Lekki . Further Investigation has been launched into the matter to apprehend others who are at large.
The theft of RRU inverter cable by another male suspect, who was arrested on 7th April , 2026 in Banana Island was also established to be currently undergoing prosecution accordingly.
The parade also comprised of three Togolese brothers , who deserted the Togolese Army and were found and apprehended by the Badagry operatives of the Command .
The Command has taken appropriate steps to hand the deserted Togolese Army personnel to the appropriate agency of government for further investigation .
Other suspects arrested by the Badagry operatives of the Command and linked to illegal migration have been handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service, Lagos State Command for further investigation .
The Lagos State Commandant has once again seized this opportunity to warn vandals to desist from their dastardly act of economic sabotage , which brings harshness, hardness, agony and strain upon the innocent citizens or face the full weight of the law .
Crime
Police arrest 10 suspects over killing of Benue Miyetti Allah’s chairman
The MACBAN chairman and Yakubu Isa were reportedly ambushed and killed at Okudu community in Otukpo LGA on Friday, June 26, 2026 by armed men, while returning from a peace meeting called by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in the Idekpa, Ohimini LGA.
The Benue State Police Command has declared that it arrested 10 suspects in connection with the killing of the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Benue State, Ardo Risku Mohammed, and one Yakubu Isa.
The MACBAN chairman and Yakubu Isa were reportedly ambushed and killed at Okudu community in Otukpo LGA on Friday, June 26, 2026 by armed men, while returning from a peace meeting called by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in the Idekpa, Ohimini LGA.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Udeme Edet, confirmed the arrest, emphasing that the arrests marked significant progress in the investigation into the attack.
The suspects were apprehended on the night of June 27, 2026, during a coordinated operation by the Command’s tactical teams in Otukpo Local Government Area, following what police described as intensive intelligence gathering and tactical operations.
According to him, the suspects arrested were 25-year-old Titus Thyodenda, 20-year-old Utibe Sam, 18-year-old Owoicho Ameh, 21-year-old Sunday Useni, 46-year-old Sunday Useni, 46-year-old Sunday Ogbanje, 23-year-old Daniel Raphael, 24-year-old Adokole John, 32-year-old Samuel Ogazi, 25-year-old Agbo Daniel, and 30-year-old Onazi James.
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