Nigeria Police apprehend politician over N200m stolen from Patricia Technologies

According to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), a politician named Ambassador Wilfred Bonse has been taken into custody in relation to the theft of more than N200 million from Patricia Technologies’ cryptocurrency wallet.

In a statement made public on Friday, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force’s public relations officer, revealed this. It was rumored that Bonse assisted hackers in money laundering N50 million of the pilfered funds.

He claims that in the investigation of a complicated financial fraud case that Patricia Technologies Limited reported, the Force, through its National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC), has made notable progress. In a plea to the Inspector General of Police, he said that the case involves illegal diversion of cash totaling more than N200 million, illegal modification of computer systems, and network data.

In the statement, the NPF representative said:

The petition, which detailed the purported theft, conversion of cryptocurrency wallets, and unapproved fund diversion from the business’s Flutterwave account, singled out a few people who are still at large. But diligent work on their behalf resulted in the capture of one Ambassador Wilfred Bonse.Having acknowledged his participation in the intricate crime. Using a cryptocurrency wallet, Wilfred Bonse colluded to launder N50,000,000:00k, or fifty million naira, which came from the illicit diversion of N607,000,000:00k, or six hundred and seven million naira, from Patricia Technology company’s account to his own bank account.
“All parties involved in this criminal conspiracy will be brought to justice, the Nigeria Police Force wishes to assure the public while the investigation is ongoing.”

The corporation may have felt a great sense of relief upon learning of the arrest made in relation to the theft on the Patricial Technologies platform.

Since its system was compromised earlier this year, the cryptocurrency trading company has been under intense scrutiny and has seen the loss of billions of dollars’ worth of consumer assets.

Patricia promised to reimburse its consumers for the value of their assets, which it turned into Patricia Tokens in response to their demands.

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Patricia claimed that a hack caused asset loss in a White Paper it produced to justify its actions. It further stated that the development of the Patricia Token—an internal token that consumers are encouraged to keep—was prompted by the company’s dedication to honesty and customer confidence.

In order to ensure asset recovery and mitigate the effects of the security breach, the business claims that the Token represents a promise to pay holders 1 USDT for each Patricia Token in the future.

The Patricia currency, which is an internal currency intended to symbolize debt and will be controlled by the corporation, is not on-chain, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, in an effort to calm its irate clients, the business said in October that DLM Trust would be designated as an escrow to handle consumer repayments.

However, DLM dropped out of the arrangement, alleging minor differences. Patricia Technologies declared that the repayment plan would still proceed this month in spite of this.