{"id":93628,"date":"2025-04-18T07:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T07:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93628"},"modified":"2025-04-18T07:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T07:07:15","slug":"efcc-vows-to-recover-investors-funds-from-cbex-prosecute-ponzi-scheme-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93628","title":{"rendered":"EFCC vows to recover investors\u2019 funds from CBEX, prosecute Ponzi scheme operators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vowed to ensure investors in the Ponzi scheme CBEX digital trading platform recover their money.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, made this known while speaking on Channels TV\u2019s Morning Brief on Wednesday.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">According to him, the commission is working to ensure that Nigerians who invested in the platform are refunded.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">&#8220;We are working with Interpol to ensure that these people are brought to book and investors get their money back. We are working on that. This thing could have been averted, but be it as it may, it was not averted. We are not going to throw our hands helplessly and say there is nothing the EFCC can do,\u201d Oyewale said.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">&#8220;We are more professional than that. Already, we have spread out our wings. We are talking to Interpol; we are talking to all necessary agencies across the world to bring the actors to book. We are going to bring them to book.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">He noted that although refunds may not happen immediately, they are expected eventually.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">&#8220;Investors will get their money back. It might not be in the short term, but I can assure you that the commission, as the leading anti-corruption agency in Nigeria, will not allow investors to lose their money like that.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">&#8220;And say because they are not compliant with this or that\u2014escapism is not the solution to any problem. We are going to do our work,&#8221; he said.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">CBEX is reportedly registered in Canada as a crypto exchange. However, checks by SaharaReporters on Canadian business registry platforms reveal that CBEX is not officially registered in Canada\u2014despite the company\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, Yahaya Ibrahim, reportedly claiming it is headquartered there.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">The closest match to CBEX in the Canadian business directory is a now-defunct entity named CBEX Capital Corp, whose license was revoked a year ago.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">Further investigation suggests that the name \u201cCBEX\u201d may have misled Nigerian investors. The acronym is originally associated with the China Beijing Equity Exchange, a platform owned by the Chinese government and used for mergers, acquisitions, and the restructuring of state-owned enterprises.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">This may have contributed to the false impression that the platform was backed by the Chinese government, especially since online searches for &#8220;CBEX&#8221; mostly lead to the legitimate Chinese state-run entity.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">Checks on the digital footprint of the name &#8220;CBEX&#8221; link primarily to the Chinese government-owned firm, which may have misled many Nigerians who searched for background information before deciding to invest.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">SaharaReporters had earlier detailed how, following the collapse of the CBEX platform, a group of enraged individuals looted its office in the Oke Ado area of Ibadan, Oyo State. The attack, which occurred on Monday evening, involved mobs forcibly entering the premises and removing furniture and equipment.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">According to eyewitnesses, the incident was triggered by the sudden crash of the platform, which reportedly wiped out user account balances and rendered many investments worthless.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">In the aftermath of the collapse, affected users expressed grief and frustration on social media, sharing stories of lost funds and shattered hopes.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">Responding to the situation, Nigeria\u2019s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reiterated that any platform not registered with the SEC is considered illegal.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">During a virtual session with fintech stakeholders on Monday, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama, stated: &#8220;Recently, a post went viral concerning a certain platform and its activities. The fallout includes news of its closure and financial losses. I want to be very clear: if it is not registered, it is illegal.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 17px;\">Although he did not directly mention CBEX, the timing and context strongly suggested he was referring to the controversy.<\/span><br \/>\n<!--\/data\/user\/0\/com.samsung.android.app.notes\/files\/clipdata\/clipdata_bodytext_250418_080234_126.sdocx--><\/p>\n<p>\u25cf By <strong>Sahara Reporters.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vowed to ensure investors in the Ponzi scheme CBEX digital trading platform recover their money. \u00a0 EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, made this known while speaking on Channels TV\u2019s Morning Brief on Wednesday. \u00a0 According to him, the commission is working to ensure that Nigerians who invested in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":93629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[7078,164,596],"class_list":["post-93628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news","tag-crex","tag-efcc","tag-ponzi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}