A Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered that Jesam Michael, founder of Afriq Arbitrage System be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre over suspected investment fraud, money laundering and advance fee fraud.
Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, issued the remand order on Tuesday following a seven-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on April 16.
Michael was sued for fraudulent investment activities involving more than $844,000, $10,000 and N590 million.
Just like on two previous occasions, the court refused Michael’s bail application, citing the gravity of the charges, the volume of evidence presented by the EFCC and its ongoing investigation, and “the accused fraudster’s safety”.
Egwuatu also noted that the EFCC and other security agencies were receiving additional petitions from new victims.
“The truth is that Jesam (Michael) defrauded over 50,000 investors through his fraudulent scheme,” Ebenezer Udeagha*, one of the fraudsters’ victims said.
“As at Tuesday morning, we got the news that thousands of petitions were still being received by the EFCC on the issue.
“That even means that if Jesam is granted bail by the court, his safety is not even guaranteed anywhere.”
On March 5, FIJ reported how Michael managed to secure a Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) certificate from the EFCC without proper checks.
After Michael successfully established AAS, more than 50,000 investors from 127 countries, including Nigeria, invested roughly $1.6 billion with him and his cryptocurrency trading platform.
The AAS platform went live in January 2023. Two weeks after trading commenced, however, investors discovered they could not withdraw their funds from their AAS wallet.
When the aggrieved investors confronted Michael with the issue, he told them that hackers were beginning to disturb the site and he needed to take urgent steps to prevent them from succeeding.
On April 10, 2023, the investors eventually found that the platform had shut down.
Michael was eventually arrested by the police on January 30.
Prior to Justice Egwuatu’s ruling, Michael had been in the EFCC’s custody.
Michael’s trial at the Abuja High Court is scheduled to commence on June 20.
