Court Jails Internet Fraudster, Forfeits Properties To Govt

Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court successful Lagos has convicted and sentenced an net fraudster, Fatayi Inu-Umoru, to 1 twelvemonth successful situation aft helium pleaded blameworthy to a two-count complaint of conspiracy, individuality theft/impersonation, and unlawful possession of illicit properties.

Justice Osiagor besides ordered the forfeiture of a afloat detached four-bedroom duplex located astatine Block E, Plot 6(B) successful Favoured Heights Estates, Lekki, Lagos, and a 2019 Mercedes-Benz G63 valued astatine N160 million, among different illicit assets seized from the convict by the national government.

Inu-Umoru, besides known arsenic Amanosi Musa Fatayi, initially pleaded not blameworthy to the complaint but aboriginal changed it aft entering into a plea bargain statement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Based connected the plea deal, the EFCC amended the archetypal 12-count complaint against the convict and re-arraigned him connected conscionable 2 counts.

As portion of his plea agreement, the justice sentenced him to six months for each count, with an enactment of a good of N100,000. Both the situation word and the good volition tally concurrently.

During the arraignment, the prosecutor, Bilikisu Buhari-Bala, informed the tribunal that Inu-Umoru and an accomplice, Uche Musa Inu-Umoru, who is presently astatine large, committed the offences betwixt March 2023 and July 2025 successful Lagos State.

Buhari-Bala told the justice that the convict was conspiring to disguise illicit gains from his unlawful activities, specifically related to a afloat detached four-bedroom duplex successful Lekki, Lagos, frankincense committing an offence nether the Money Laundering Act.

She besides alleged that the convict disguised the origins of his illicit gains to acquisition a 2019 Mercedes-Benz G63 worthy N160 million, besides an offence nether the Money Laundering Act.

The authoritative further claimed that the convict fraudulently impersonated a achromatic pistillate named Diana Lee successful July 2025 with the intent to summation an vantage for his employer, which violates the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act of 2015.

Buhari-Bala stated that offences were contrary to Section 18(2)(a) and punishable nether Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022.