An eighteen-year-old internet fraud investigator target, Hassan Usman Olamilekan, was handed his sentence by the Federal High Court in Lagos on October 30, 2026, following a guilty plea for laundering eight hundred dollars acquired through a fraudulent gift card scheme directed at an American national. Justice Dipeolu delivered the verdict in the Ikoyi division after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission prosecuted the defendant through its Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 on a single- count charge bordering on money laundering.
Key facts from the judicial proceeding include:
- The offense contravened Section 18(2)(a) and attracted penalties under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
- The court mandated the convict to pay a fine of two hundred thousand naira alongside one million naira as restitution to the federal administration.
- Two mobile phones, specifically an iPhone 11 Pro and a Poco C71, were ordered forfeited to the state.
- The convict will stay in a correctional facility until all financial penalties are completely fulfilled.
How did the scam unfold?
Testimony presented before the bench by EFCC investigator Ebuka Abanga detailed that Olamilekan orchestrated a lottery deception via digital communication networks. Posing as a white American female named Julie Leach on the Zangi messaging application, the defendant engaged a United States citizen named Gary Brewer. Olamilekan falsely informed the victim that a lottery prize of two hundred and fifty million dollars had been won, claiming that monetary clearance was mandatory prior to collecting the funds.
Through these deceptive communications, the American victim remitted gift cards totaling eight hundred dollars. Investigators established that the convict disposed of the digital assets utilizing the Cardsonic platform, exchanged the returns into Nigerian currency, and routed the funds through his grandmother's OPay account.
Background to the arrest
Olamilekan was initially apprehended alongside twenty-one other individuals during a targeted intelligence operation conducted by anti-graft agents at Applewood Estate situated along Orchid Road in Lekki, Lagos State, on October 26, 2026. Judicial proceedings concluded four days following the initial sting operation. Records from the anti-graft agency indicated that while the convict asserted roots in the Republic of Benin, birth records trace his origins within Nigeria.