A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday convicted and sentenced seven Chinese nationals to one year imprisonment each for their involvement in cyberterrorism and internet fraud linked to a massive Ponzi scheme uncovered in December 2024.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned the convicts separately before Justice Ayokunle Faji, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, and Justice Yellim Bogoro, reports Channels TV.
At the proceedings, the EFCC prosecution team of Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, Chineye Okezie, and Banjo Temitope informed the justices that the defendants had entered into plea bargain agreements, which were filed on June 20, 2025.
Upon arraignment, all the defendants pleaded guilty and confirmed that they voluntarily consented to the plea bargain.
The court convicted and sentenced each of them to one year in prison and a fine of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira).
The court also ordered that, upon completion of their prison terms, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) should ensure their deportation to their respective home countries within seven days.
The convicts — Peng Li Huan, Zhang Jin Rong, He Kun, Rachelle Cabalona, Caselyn Pionela, Guo Long Long, and Zhang Hua Zhai — were arrested during a raid conducted by the EFCC on a building located on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Lagos, where over 700 suspects were apprehended.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the EFCC arraigned the defendants on separate one-count charges bordering on cyberterrorism and internet fraud.
The amended one-count charge read in court stated that the convicts, in December 2024, “willfully accessed computer systems organized to destabilize and destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Nigeria by recruiting Nigerian youths to commit identity theft and impersonate foreign nationals for financial gain”.
The offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024), and Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.
