A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced one Courage Ipaka to two years in prison for defrauding a US citizen, Mrs. Yvelte Thompson, of $53,000 by impersonating Nigerian artist Chinedu Okoli, popularly known as Flavour N’abania.
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu convicted Ipaka after pleading guilty to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) two-count accusation.
Previously, prosecution counsel Suleiman Suleiman guided EFCC investigator Azibagiri Ekpar through the evidence against the defendant.
The witness said in court that Ipaka impersonated Flavour by proposing to book performances in the United States of America and taking payment via Bitcoin wallet.
Ekpar added that the EFCC became aware of the fraud after receiving a petition from one Eyitayo Abiodun and others on behalf of the victim.
He said: “We invited Flavour, who honored the invitation and claimed innocence of the allegations. Upon investigation, we discovered that one Ipaka Courage, who lives in Benin City, Edo State, was the perpetrator.
“We invited the defendant, and he admitted in his statement that he impersonated Flavour by obtaining the sum of $53,000 from a woman, who is a United States citizen in 2021.”
“He wired the funds through Bitcoin wallets and converted them in 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.”
Following the defendant’s guilty plea and after evaluating the prosecution’s case against him, Justice Dipeolu sentenced Ipaka to two years in prison with the possibility of a N2 million fine.
