Man Sentenced To 63 Years In Prison For Investment Fraud In Oyo

A man named Olaniyan Gbenga Amos has been sentenced to 63 years in prison by the Oyo High Court in Ibadan for investment fraud.

On Monday, Judge Olusola Adetujoye convicted Amos and his company, Detorrid Heritage Investment Limited, for multiple fraudulent activities.

Amos faced 30 charges brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which accused him of deceiving people into investing money by making false promises of high returns.

One charge claimed that on June 18, 2020, Amos tricked someone into paying N995,000 for an investment he falsely claimed would earn a 30% return in six weeks.

Another charge from January 29, 2020, accused him of doing the same thing to another person, convincing them to pay N920,000 under similar false pretenses.

“That you Olaniyan Gbenga Amos and Detorrid Heritage Investment Limited on or about 18th of June, 2020, at Ibadan, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N995, 000.00 (Nine Hundred and Ninety-five Thousand Naira) only from Bada Titilope, when you falsely represented to him that the money is meant for registration and investment with Crime Alert Security Network with a promise of 30% return on Investment in 6 weeks (30 working days), which representations you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence of Obtaining Money under false pretence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006,” part of the charge sheet reads.

“That you Olaniyan Gbenga Amos and Detorrid Heritage Investment Limited on or about 29th of January, 2020, at Ibadan, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N920, 000.00 (Nine Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira) only from Onifade Isaac Olawale, when you falsely represented to him that the money is meant for registration and investment with Crime Alert Security Network with a promise of 30% return on Investment in 6 weeks (30 working days), which representations you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence of Obtaining Money under false pretence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.”

Olaniyan Gbenga Amos pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The trial began in February 2022, with the EFCC calling eight witnesses and presenting evidence.

In January 2023, Amos’s lawyer tried to have the case thrown out, but the court rejected that request and ordered Amos to defend himself.

In October 2024, the defender testified in his own defense.

On Monday, the judge convicted him on several counts of fraud, sentencing him to seven years in prison for each count of 6, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24.

However, Amos was acquitted on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 respectively.

The court ordered Amos to serve his sentences at the same time, not one after another.

Additionally, the convict was instructed to repay the money he defrauded from his victims.

This conviction comes after Amos was sentenced to 75 years in a similar case in December 2023. He also faces two other ongoing trials in federal courts.

KanyiDaily recalls that a military court in Enugu recently sentenced a soldier, Private Adamu Mohammed, to death by hanging for murdering his girlfriend, Hauwa Ali.