A jaw-dropping financial scandal has rocked First Bank of Nigeria, as one of its staff, Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, allegedly orchestrated a massive ₦40 billion fraud before disappearing without a trace.
Adeyinka, who worked on the bank’s electronic products team, reportedly exploited his authorised access to process failed transaction reversals—turning a routine banking function into a high-level fraud operation.
Investigations reveal that he secretly credited merchant accounts with funds that did not belong to them, initially funnelling the illicit money through an account linked to his wife, Dorcas Adeyinka. From there, the funds were dispersed across 34 accounts, eventually spreading into a staggering 1,190 secondary accounts across multiple banks.
By the time the fraud was uncovered and reported to the Nigeria Police Force on March 25, 2024, the figure had ballooned from ₦12 billion to an eye-watering ₦40 billion—with the suspect already on the run.
Authorities swiftly secured three separate court orders across Lagos and Jalingo to freeze linked accounts, but not before a portion of the funds had been converted into cryptocurrency (USDT) through underground trading channels.
Despite the scale of the operation, a significant recovery has been made. The sum of ₦1.17 billion, £35,070, and $392,818 has been traced, recovered, and forfeited—alongside a sprawling portfolio of luxury properties tied to the couple.
Recovered assets include multiple high-value real estate holdings in Lagos—spanning Lekki, Ibeju-Lekki, and Epe—as well as a prime property in Abuja’s Life Camp axis. These assets have since been transferred to FirstBank.
The unfolding scandal has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s banking sector, raising serious concerns over internal controls, digital transaction oversight, and the growing intersection between financial fraud and cryptocurrency laundering.
As security agencies intensify efforts to track down the fleeing suspect and his wife, industry watchers say the case could become one of the largest insider frauds in Nigeria’s banking history.
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