Nigeria Police arrest politician over N200 million stolen from Patricia Technologies

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said it has arrested one Ambassador Wilfred Bonse, a politician, in connection with the theft of over N200 million from Patricia Technologies’ crypto wallet.

The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement released on Friday. Bonse was said to have helped hackers launder N50 million out of the stolen money.

According to him, the Force, through its National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC) has made significant strides in the investigation of a complex financial fraud case reported by Patricia Technologies Limited.  He added that the case involved criminal conspiracy, unauthorized modification of computer systems, network data, and the unlawful diversion of funds amounting to over N200 million as contained in a petition to the Inspector General of Police.

The NPF spokesperson in the statement said:

Reprieve for Patricia Technologies

The arrest made in connection with the heist on the Patricial Technologies platform may have come as a huge relief for the company.

The crypto trading company has been in the eye of the storm since its system got hacked earlier this year leading to the loss of billions in customers’ funds.

Amid demands from its customers, Patricia had converted the value of its customers’ assets to what it called Patricia Token, with a promise to repay them at a later date.

Patricia in a White Paper released to explain its actions said it experienced a cyberattack, which led to the loss of assets. It added that its commitment to integrity and customer trust spurred the creation of the Patricia Token as an internal token for the customers to hold on to.

According to the company, the Token symbolizes a promise to pay holders 1 USDT for each Patricia Token in the future, thereby ensuring asset recovery and addressing the impact of the security breach.

It said the Patricia Token is not on-chain, but an internal token used to represent debt and it would be managed by the company.

Meanwhile, to settle its agitated customers, the company in October announced the appointment of DLM Trust as an escrow to disburse the repayment for its customers.

DLM, however, pulled out of the deal, citing some disagreements. Despite that, Patricia Technologies said it would go ahead with the repayment plan this month.