A federal high court in Lagos has sentenced Courage Ipaka to two years in prison for impersonating Flavour
Ipaka was convicted of using Flavour’s identity to defraud Yvelte M. Thompson, a U.S. resident, out of $53,000.
The investigation, led by Azibagiri Dan Ekpar from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revealed that Ipaka had falsely promised to arrange shows in America and received payments from the victim through his Bitcoin wallets.
The investigation started after a petition was filed by Eyitayo Tolulope Abiodun and others on behalf of Thompson, which led to Flavour being invited for questioning. Flavour denied any involvement.
“Upon investigation, we discovered that one Ipaka Courage who lives in Benin City was the perpetrator. The defendant admitted in his statement that he impersonated Flavour by obtaining $53,000 from a woman who is a United States citizen in 2021. He wired the funds through Bitcoin wallets and converted them into his Access Bank account where he received the value in Naira. The sum of N7.9 million was recovered from the defendant through Zenith and Access Bank manager’s cheques,” the EFCC stated.
In his ruling, Judge Dehinde Dipeolu sentenced Ipaka to two years in prison, with the option of paying a fine of N2 million. The judge also ordered the forfeiture of N7.9 million to Thompson.
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The punishment is not enough. Flavour should also sue him for stress
Bloody thief