What began as a routine political donation to a high-profile U.S. event turned into a cross-border cryptocurrency scam, with FBI investigators tracing the stolen funds to Lagos, Nigeria.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize assets belonging to Nigerian national Ehiremen Aigbokhan, accused of diverting over ₦460 million through a cryptocurrency scam targeting donors to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
According to documents filed in a U.S. court, Aigbokhan and his co-conspirators orchestrated a sophisticated Business Email Compromise (BEC) scheme. They impersonated officials of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee by creating fake email addresses that mimicked those of real individuals, including Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and co-chair of the inaugural event.
On December 26, 2024, the fraudsters successfully deceived a donor into transferring 250,300 USDT.ETH — a form of cryptocurrency equivalent to more than ₦400 million at the time — into their digital wallet. Within days, they dispersed 215,000 USDT.ETH across multiple cryptocurrency addresses in an attempt to launder the stolen funds.
The scam was uncovered when the FBI, in collaboration with crypto firm Tether, detected the suspicious activity and froze the affected wallets on December 31. Investigators subsequently traced the origin of the operation to Lagos, Nigeria, identifying Aigbokhan as a central figure.
In addition to this case, Aigbokhan is wanted for his alleged involvement in wider cryptocurrency fraud and international money laundering activities. U.S. authorities say the investigation is ongoing.