A Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order directing Binance Holdings Limited to furnish the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive information regarding all individuals from Nigeria engaging in trading activities on its platform.
According to a local report, the court issued the order in response to an ex-parte motion filed by the EFCC which sought information about Nigerians trading on Binance.
In the affidavit supporting the motion, deposed to by EFCC operative, Hamma Bello, it was stated that the Special Investigation Team of the commission, situated within the Office of the National Security Adviser, received intelligence indicating that activities related to money laundering and terrorism financing were being conducted on Binance.
Two Binance officials who arrived in Nigeria as part of investigations into the company continue to be detained by authorities without charges.
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“The Special Investigation Team of the commission domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser received an intelligence stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform,” said Bello.
“That on receipt of the intelligence, the team began an investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform.
The team uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation, and market manipulation, which has caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the Naira losing its value against other currencies.
That from the information afforded to the team by Binance shows trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 billion.”
In a separate report, an analysis of trades conducted between February 19 -21 2024 revealed a cluster of Nigerian retail traders placing substantial buy orders for USDT that they ultimately did not fulfill. Authorities suspect these traders of manipulating prices to exploit the resulting arbitrage opportunity to their advantage.
Consequently, the application dated and filed February 29 2024 was granted as prayed.
“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made directing the operators of Binance to provide the commission with comprehensive data/information relating to all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform,” the court ruling read.
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