Lagos Court Sentences Man to Two Years for Impersonating Musician Flavour
Lagos Court Sentences Man to Two Years for Impersonating Musician Flavour: The Federal High Court in Lagos has handed down a two-year prison sentence to
Courage Ikpaka after he was found guilty of defrauding a United States citizen,
Mrs. Yvelte M. Thompson, of $53,000. Ikpaka was convicted for
impersonating the popular Nigerian musician Chinedu Okoli, widely known as Flavour N’abania. The judgment was delivered by Justice Dehinde Dipeolu, who
acted on Ikpaka’s guilty plea to a two-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
During the proceedings, the EFCC’s prosecution team, led by Suleiman
Suleiman, presented evidence from investigator Azibagiri Dan Ekpar, who revealed the details of the fraudulent scheme. According to Ekpar, Ikpaka falsely claimed to be Flavour, promising to organize music shows in the United States. To further his scam, Ikpaka received payments through Bitcoin wallets, converting them to Naira in his Access Bank account.
the fraudulent activities
The fraudulent activities came to light when Eyitayo Tolulope Abiodun and others filed a petition on behalf of Mrs. Thompson. As part of the investigation, Flavour
was invited by the EFCC, where he denied any involvement in the scam.
Further inquiries led to the discovery that Ikpaka, based in Benin City,
was the true perpetrator. In his confession, Ikpaka admitted to impersonating Flavour and swindling the U.S. citizen in 2021. The funds were initially
transferred via Bitcoin and later converted to Naira, with
approximately N7.9 million recovered from Ikpaka through bank cheques from Zenith and Access Bank.
In response to the overwhelming evidence and Ikpaka’s guilty plea,
Justice Dipeolu sentenced him to two years in prison. However,
the court offered him an alternative of paying a N2 million fine.
The charges against Ikpaka highlighted his fraudulent use of a
Telegram account to impersonate Flavour and the retention of proceeds from his unlawful activities. These acts were deemed violations under the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022.
© Channels TV