Justice Yelim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ‎Court orders final forfeiture of N81m recovered in banking system glitch fraud
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‎Justice Yelim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the final forfeiture of N81,108,143.80 recovered from a massive fraud involving a system glitch at Sterling Bank Plc.
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‎The court’s ruling on Monday, March 9, 2026, followed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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‎The funds, which were identified as proceeds of unlawful activity, have been ordered forfeited to the Federal Government for subsequent return to the affected financial institution.
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‎The case originated from a petition filed by Sterling Bank in July 2022, reporting that customers had exploited a system glitch, specifically within the PayAttitude Global Ltd banking platform to illegally transfer over N2.5 billion from accounts that lacked sufficient balances.
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‎According to court filings, the scheme resulted in the unauthorized movement of billions of naira, much of which was moved into third-party accounts, including those belonging to associates and family members of primary suspects.
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‎EFCC investigators traced the stolen funds across several banks, identifying accounts used to conceal the proceeds.
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‎While the total volume of the fraud exceeded N2.5 billion, investigators confirmed that the bank was able to salvage a portion of the stolen assets, specifically the N81.1 million subject to Monday’s order, alongside an additional N490.3 million recovered from the bank’s internal ledger.
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‎Following an interim forfeiture order granted in October 2025 and a subsequent public notice inviting interested parties to contest the recovery, the court found the EFCC’s application to be meritorious.
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‎”Having gone through the motion and attachments, I find the application meritorious and the same is accordingly granted,” Justice Bogoro held.
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‎The EFCC emphasized that the recovery serves as a critical measure in addressing the abuse of digital payment platforms and ensuring that victims of financial crimes are afforded a pathway to restitution through the legal system.