Ebenezer Udeagha*, a resident of Owerri, Imo State, first heard of Afriq Arbitrage System (AAS), a cryptocurrency trading platform run by Jesam Michael, a self-acclaimed forex trader and expert, via Facebook in October 2022.

Michael had made several videos, assuring investors, both active and prospective, that they could withdraw their capitals and the Returns on Investment (RoIs) any time they wanted.

He further told Udeagha and other interested investors that he had signed a liquidity agreement with Binance and that their funds were in good hands.

In the months that followed, more than 50,000 investors from 127 countries, including Nigeria, invested roughly $1.6 billion with Michael and AAS.

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Jesam Michael

In the end, however, Michael did the unthinkable by orchestrating a fraudulent move that ultimately prevented the investors from having access to their funds.

THE BEGINNING

What AAS’ Investors’ Dashboard Look Like

“When he floated the cryptocurrency platform in October 2022, the publicity and awareness he created was much,” said Udeagha.

“The agents or marketers he had then were about 60. When a few people first joined in 2022, Jesam initially named the platform “Better Tester”. The platform eventually went live as Afriq Arbitrage System (AAS) and was made open to the public in January 2023. This was exactly the month I joined.

“When I joined AAS as an investor, an RoI of 1.65 per cent was promised daily.

“He even sold a marketing gimmick to us saying there would be an increase in RoI as time goes on and this made people invest more money on the platform.”

Two weeks later, investors suddenly discovered they could not withdraw their funds from their AAS wallet.

“When investors confronted Jesam with the issue, he told us that hackers were beginning to disturb the site and he needed to take urgent steps to prevent them from succeeding,” Udeagha told FIJ.

“The incident happened two weeks after trading commenced. That was between January 14 and 18. Jesam then said the sole reason he locked our capital was to prevent the hackers from having access to the platform. He added that the liquidity pool was still secure.”

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NEVER ENDING 30-DAY REQUESTS

Jesam Michael

On April 10, 2023, investors discovered that the AAR platform had been shut down.

“Jesam then called a meeting to claim a part of the platform had once again been attacked by hackers, claiming he needed to carry out maintenance to prevent any further attacks,” said Anne Haruna*, another AAS investor.

“He then requested a 30-day grace so he could fix the platform properly.”

After the expiration of one month, Michael further requested an additional month’s extension and the investors granted him that.

“On June 10, he requested for another month’s grace and on July 10, he requested for an additional 15 days,” said Haruna.

“On July 25, he requested another 15 days. Throughout that period, we did not get any concrete feedback from Jesam until September 2023, when he resurfaced to claim he had been down with a liver ailment.

“At that time, investors had been prevented from having access to their funds for more than 150 days.”

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‘LIVER AILMENT EXCUSE AND THE BOMBSHELL’

Jesam Michael in a Hospital Bed

Michael told investors that, while he was leaving Nigeria to travel abroad for his liver treatment, he handed over business affairs and the platform management to one Abayomi Segun, his associate.

“Jesam claimed he also handed over the platform’s login details to Abayomi so that the specialists he (Jesam) had hired to work on the site would continue troubleshooting the hacking problem,” said Udeagha.

“He added that it was while he was abroad for the treatment that he noticed that someone had started withdrawing money from the platform.

“He claimed the investigation he carried out revealed that Abayomi had stolen millions of dollars from the AAS platform.

“Jesam said he quickly returned to Nigeria after the surgery only to discover that $87 million was the actual amount Abayomi stole.

“He added that he launched a manhunt for Abayomi with the help of the Interpol and the aide was eventually arrested in Tanzania.

“During interrogation, Abayomi would, however, claim he only took the $10 million fee he and Jesam agreed on for managing the platform while he was away.”

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WHEN INVESTORS DEMANDED THEIR CAPITALS

One of the Facebook Groups Aggrieved Investors Created

When a faction of AAS’ investors reflected on the situation critically, they remembered Michael once claimed that their investment was Binance-insured and that the platform was so “air-tight” that no hacker could break into it.

When they started asking the cryptocurrency trader salient questions on the issue, he blocked all of them from having access to him on all social platforms.

Michael’s action then prompted Michael Okoh, one of the affected investors, to post a series of messages on Facebook and WhatsApp to remind fellow investors of the promises the cryptocurrency trader made about the investment being insured in the beginning.

To further put pressure on Michael and ensure refunds were made, Okoh created a Facebook and WhatsApp groups named “Jesam Return Our Capital”.

With time, over 1,000 investors joined the group and they sent a petition to the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the matter.

After this, the affected investors also held a press conference, demanding that Michael return their capitals.

Michael would later rewrite the narrative by having Okoh, Prince Humble Eteng, Dennis Okoi, Donald Michael and Oma Awajioma, aggrieved investors, arrested.

Okoh was arrested by police officers from Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja on May 4, 2024.

He was subsequently taken to court, charged for cyberbullying and remanded in Kuje prison on May 6.

FOREIGN INVESTORS WERE NOT SPARED

Foreign nationals who invested their money with Michael’s AAS were not spared in the fraud as well.

In two separate videos obtained by FIJ, the victims, just like their Nigerian counterparts, told stories of how they lost thousands of dollars to the same platform.

“My name is Nadia Muzali, I am originally from the UK; a British citizen,” said one of the foreign victims.

“I have lived in Morocco for eight years now and it’s from here that I was investing online with AAS.

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“Over the time I invested with them, I invested £15,000. My RoI and even my investment, my initial investment, I was never able to withdraw anything.

“I was only able to re-invest the RoI or buy AAS tokens with it.”

Karl Nazedi’s Video

A second foreign investor said he invested over $10,000 with AAS.

“My name is Karl Nazredi. I invested into AAS believing that it was a real platform. I invested over $10,000,” the second victim said.

“Basically, I haven’t been able to withdraw in over two years due to Jesam Michael’s lies after lies after lies about withdrawals, giving us a date and then when the date comes, he gives another excuse.

“Now, I am just stressed out over the whole situation. Hopefully, this refund comes through because my hard-earned money was lost due to Jesam Michael’s vicious scam.”

JESAM MICHAEL’S ARREST

Moment Jesam Was Arrested at the Airport

On January 29, Michael was arrested by the police while he was trying to leave Nigeria via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

FIJ obtained a video that captured the moment he was arrested and the way he relinquished various foreign currency denominations that were on him at the time of the arrest.

Jesam Handin Oe he oreign Currency Denominaions in His Possession After He Was Arested

Interestingly, when Michael initially accused Abayomi of $87 million theft, he had reported the matter to the SIU. Upon the arrest of Abayomi, however, the associate admitted to the charges but contested the amount involved and said it was $10 million he took.

When Abayomi eventually forfeited what was left of the money he took, and the properties he purchased were recovered, Michael transferred everything to himself, and not AAS.

His actions gave rise to concerns about his actual motives and this led to further probes. Eventually, the police was able to establish that the cryptocurrency trader failed to provide verifiable medical records for the alleged liver transplant surgery he claimed he underwent; the same surgery that forced him to share vital details about AAS’ cryptocurrency trading activities with Abayomi.

The investigation also revealed that Michael failed to provide valid evidence of legitimate trading practices, and a viable repayment plan for the affected investors. All these led to questions being asked about his credibility and the integrity of AAS.

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Michael’s claims of cyberbullying were also dismissed by the police and it was also established that the real victims were the many innocent and unsuspecting investors who placed their trust and money in his care.

CLAIMS OF JESAM GETTING SUPPORT FROM THE POLICE

Before Michael’s eventual arrest, FIJ learnt he would always tell aggrieved investors that he could not be touched by anyone.

“He would always boldly say to investors that no one can do anything to him,” said Haruna.

“At the time, the police never investigated any of Jesam’s claims of travelling abroad for a fake surgery; our petitions were never attended to and the police never asked him to show them his body so as to confirm he actually went for a surgery.

“He is friends with many police officers. Before now, police hierarchy at the SIU would consistently defend Jesam, telling us he was innocent and dismissing all the evidence we provided to them.

“The proofs the police initially discarded showed that he swindled 56,000 investors. It also showed that close to 600,000 illegal transactions were linked to his fraudulent Ponzi scheme platform.

“About $1.6 billion was traced to his wallet. He collected these funds from thousands of unsuspecting investors. Many of the officers even call him “Odogwu” because of the way he spends money.

The police were only able to arrest him when the leadership of the SIU changed.

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UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

How Jesam obtained a Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) approval and certificate from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) without proper scrutiny, and how he also managed to run a scheme worth $1.6 billion without ever remitting tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) remain unanswered questions.

FIJ has also found that the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) traced 596,000 illegal transactions to Michael’s wallet with their respective details.

How did things get to this point without any of the relevant regulatory and security agencies raising the alarm on AAS’ activity?

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JESAM MICHAEL NOW IN EFCC CUSTODY

FIJ gathered that Michael had left the SIU by February 26 and was in EFCC’s custody.

Subsequently, a phone call was placed to an EFCC official simply referred to as Ogunjobi. Ogunjobi is believed to be the official handling the case on behalf of the commission.

“I am sorry I am not authorised to speak on the matter,” Ogunjobi told FIJ on Thursday.

“I would advise you speak to the commission’s spokesperson for a response.”

On the same day, FIJ placed several phone calls to Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, for a response on the event that led to the police transferring the matter to the commission. Oyewale did not answer FIJ’s calls.

The text message that was sent to him on the same day had also not been responded to at press time.

As investors’ $1.6 billion hangs in the air, FIJ understands Michael is already pulling the strings to ensure he secures bail. While this continues, there has been no conversation on how the investors would get their hard-earned funds back.

*Investors asked FIJ to keep them anonymous.
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