Nigerian Trio Allegedly Uses Money Laundering Proceeds to Buy Bitcoins Worth Over $43 Million – According to a source, Interpol is working to resolve a case in which three Nigerian nationals are suspected of using money laundering proceeds to buy bitcoins valued more than $43 million.
Three Kenyans, including an unnamed powerful Kenyan politician, are accused of assisting the Nigerian trio in their efforts to hide the actual reason for the fund transfer.
A review by Interpol indicated that the trio could have transferred approximately $215 million (25 billion Kenyan shillings) from Nigeria to Kenya between October and November 2020, according to a report in the Kenyan daily the Nation.
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Once the funds were in Kenya, the three, Olubunmi Akinyemiju, Eghosasere Nehikhare and Olufemi Olukunmi Demuren, went on a bitcoin buying spree. The trio is reported to have purchased bitcoins worth $36,353,728 from Binance’s U.S. registered branch, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges by traded volumes, during this buying spree. A further $7,246,582 was spent on Busha, another cryptocurrency exchange, to purchase bitcoins cryptocurrency exchange.
The trio is thought to have transferred bitcoins to individual wallets after obtaining them in an attempt to make them untraceable, according to the report. Despite this, the Kenyan publication stated that it was unable to determine the actual quantity of bitcoins purchased by the Nigerian trio on the Kenyan crypto exchange Bitpesa and on Quidax.
According to the investigation, the Nigerian trio were able to shift monies successfully under the guise of “same company fund transfers.” The quantity of the funds transfers, on the other hand, piqued Interpol’s curiosity.
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Nigerian Trio Allegedly Uses Money Laundering Proceeds to Buy Bitcoins Worth Over $43 Million – Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency is said to have acquired a court order for it to freeze six bank accounts belonging to six firms linked to the alleged money launderers as a result of the Interpol investigation.
Meanwhile, according to the Nation report, two Kenyan citizens, Pauline Wanjiru Wachira and Evalyne Wawira Gachoki, may have assisted the Nigerian trio in moving the laundered funds.
