Nigerian man arraigned for allegedly defrauding Australian investor of AUD$8.4m, US$3.6m

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned one Usie Otukpa Osang before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, over an alleged multi-million dollar fraud scheme.

According to the anti-graft agency, Osang was arraigned on Monday, June 29, 2026, on an eight-count charge bordering on impersonation and obtaining money under false pretences involving AUD$8,427,330.83 and US$3,639,462.00.

The EFCC alleged that the defendant, who reportedly operated under the aliases “Oscar Tyler” and “Ford Thompson,” defrauded victims through a fake cryptocurrency investment platform known as Liquid Assets Group.

Part of the charge read: “That you, Usie Otukpa Osang (alias Oscar Tyler and Ford Thompson) and others at large, sometime between May, 2021 and May, 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, with the intent to defraud, conspired with others at large to obtain the aggregate sum of AUD $8,427,330.83 (Eight Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty Australian Dollars, Eighty-Three cents) from Brian Jacques Creigh, an Australian citizen and the CEO of an investment firm, Panacea Capital, under the false pretence that Liquid Assets Group is a licensed online cryptocurrency trading and investment platform and offered significant return on investments, which you knew to be false.”

The commission stated that the alleged offence contravenes Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and is punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

In another count, the EFCC accused the defendant of fraudulently obtaining 19.806 Bitcoin, valued at $1,079,313.00, through a Binance wallet address between August 14 and November 23, 2021.

The charge alleged that the cryptocurrency was obtained from Brian Jacques Creigh under the guise of investments in the purported cryptocurrency trading platform.

Osang pleaded not guilty to all the charges when they were read before the court.

Following his plea, prosecution counsel Christopher Mshelia requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendant at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja pending trial.

Defence counsel K.I. Shuaibu, however, applied for bail on behalf of the defendant.

Justice Egwuatu subsequently adjourned the matter until July 14, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre.