Alleged Crypto Fraud: Court grants man N500 million bail in AUD$8.4m, US$3.6m case

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday granted N500 million bail to Usie Otukpa Osang in an AUD$8,427,330.83 and US$3,639,462.00 alleged crypto fraud case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Obiora Egwuatu granted the defendant bail, agreeing with the applicant’s legal team that he had placed sufficient documents before the court to warrant bail.

Recall that the EFCC, on June 29, 2026, arraigned him on an eight-count charge bordering on impersonation and obtaining by false pretence. The defendant denied the allegations and sought bail on liberal terms.

What the Court is saying

Passing his ruling on the application, Justice Egwuatu held that when it comes to the issue of granting bail, the court shall consider several criteria, including the criminal record of the suspect, the nature of the offence, and whether the defendant is likely to jump bail.

• He said when a person is arrested or detained, the person shall be entitled to bail in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, except where sufficient grounds are cited to oppose the bail application.
• He observed that the EFCC still found the applicant worthy of administrative bail during its investigation, even as he deposited his international passport with the Commission.
• The judge held that the evidence before him showed that “the prosecution did not deny the fact” that the applicant did not breach the terms of the administrative bail granted to him by the Commission.

He added that so long as such facts “are not denied” by the Commission, the applicant’s evidence amounts to the correct position.

• The judge observed that the applicant claimed he no longer had access to his cryptocurrency account and that “this fact was not controverted by the EFCC.”

Consequently, the judge ruled that N500 million bail be granted to the defendant with two sureties in like sum, and ordered the sureties to provide evidence of tax payments.

He said one of the sureties must own a property in Abuja, and the value of the property must align with the N500 million bail sum.

The judge held that the second surety must be a civil servant not below Level 15, while the defendant must deposit his international passport with the court registrar.

The case was then adjourned to September 5, 2026, for trial.

Backstory

Recall that in July, the EFCC had, via its charge, accused the defendant of contravening Section 1(1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

Count three of the charge reads:

• “That you, Usie Otukpa Osang (alias Oscar Tyler and Ford Thompson) and others at large, sometime between May 2021 and May 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, with the intent to defraud, conspired with others at large to obtain the aggregate sum of AUD$8,427,330.83 (Eight Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty Australian dollars, Eighty-Three cents) from Brian Jacques Creigh, an Australian citizen and the CEO of an investment firm, Panacea Capital, under the false pretence that Liquid Assets Group is a licensed online cryptocurrency trading and investment platform and offered significant returns on investments, which you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

After the defendant was arraigned, his legal team filed affidavits pursuant to the 1999 Constitution, as amended, insisting that bail remained a constitutional right.

The court had earlier ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending hearing and determination of his bail request.

• During the hearing of the bail application, the EFCC legal team argued that the offences “are not ordinary offences” but have international dimensions.
• The EFCC had also accused the defendant of possessing over US$3 million and insisted that the defendant may jeopardise evidence if granted bail.

However, the defendant had maintained that the offences are bailable and that he did not jump bail when he was granted administrative bail by the EFCC.

The applicant had also denied having cryptocurrency funds worth over US$3 million.

What you should know

The EFCC has been at the centre of the prosecution of crypto-related fraud cases and other money-laundering disputes over the years.

• In 2024, the Federal High Court lifted the freezing order on six bank accounts previously indicted by the EFCC for conducting cryptocurrency exchanges between the naira and other currencies at rates detrimental to Nigeria’s financial system.
• Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) had classified crypto trading as a national security issue.
• This led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at the time, to order five fintech companies—OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, and Paga—to stop onboarding new customers.

In response, these fintech companies later announced the prohibition of cryptocurrency or virtual currency transactions on their platforms.

Under CBN supervision, the fintech companies are required to report any account trading in cryptocurrency to the NSA through their regulator, the CBN.