Seven Chinese nationals were found guilty and given a year in prison each for their involvement in cyberterrorism and internet fraud linked to a massive Ponzi scheme that was discovered in December 2024 by a Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday.
Justices Ayokunle Faji, Chukwujekwu Aneke, and Yellim Bogoro, each from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had arraigned the convicts separately.
The defendants’ plea bargain agreements, which were filed on June 20, 2025, were disclosed to the justices by the EFCC prosecution team, which included Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, Chineye Okezie, and Banjo Temitope.
All of the defendants entered pleas of guilty at the hearing and said they would accept the plea deal.
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Each of them was found guilty and given a year in prison and a one million naira fine.
The court also recommended that the Nigerian Immigration Service’s (NIS) Comptroller-General ensure their deportation within seven days of release.
Peng Li Huan, Zhang Jin Rong, He Kun, Rachelle Cabalona, Caselyn Pionela, Guo Long Long, and Zhang Hua Zhai were detained in a building on Oyin Jolayemi Street in Lagos during a raid by the EFCC.
The defendants were arraigned by the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 on separate one-count fraud and cyberterrorism charges.
The convicts “willfully accessed computer systems organized to destabilize and destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Nigeria by recruiting Nigerian youths to identity theft and impersonate foreign nationals for financial gain,” according to the amended one-count charge read in court.
Source: Channels TV
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