July 05, (THEWILL) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize property belonging to Ehiremen Aigbokhan, a Lagos-based fraudster accused of stealing over N460 million ($250,300) in cryptocurrency donations meant for U.S. President, Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
Aigbokhan and his accomplices allegedly used a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam to deceive a donor into sending 250,300 USDT.ETH, mimicking the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee’s email.
On December 26, 2024, Aigbokhan allegedly sent out emails “purporting to be Steve Witkoff”, the then co-chair of the committee, soliciting over $250,000 worth of USDT.ETH cryptocurrency, prosecutors alleged in a federal court complaint.
The victim subsequently sent 250,300 USDT.ETH to the criminals. The 250,300 USDT.ETH is estimated to be worth over N400 million at the current black market rate.
According to court documents, the crypto was distributed across “numerous other cryptocurrency addresses”, including a Nigeria-based Binance account created in October 2024 and tied to the name “Ehiremen Aigbokhan”.
Within days of receiving the money, the perpetrators immediately disbursed 215,000 USDT.ETH to several crypto wallets before the FBI caught wind of the scam and requested crypto operator Tether to freeze the accounts, which the company voluntarily adhered to on December 31, court documents showed.
According to court documents, the FBI said 20,017 USDT.ETH was seized from Aigbokhan’s wallet, and another 20,336 USDT.ETH from 0xC7bdBA7ffB126F68E8454C, totalling over N60 million in black market rate, which Rick Blaylock Jr, the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is asking the court to declare its forfeiture.
Federal officials said the scheme was an example of a “business email compromise scam”, and that the fraudster made subtle tweaks in email domain names, substituting a lowercase “L” for an uppercase “I” to appear to be associated with the official @t47lnaugural.com email addresses.
The FBI is pursuing an arrest warrant for Aigbokhan in connection with the cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering charges.
“All donors should double and triple check that they are sending cryptocurrency to their intended recipient. It can be extremely difficult for law enforcement to recoup lost funds due to the extremely complex nature of the blockchain”, Washington U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, said in a statement.
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