Jesam Michael, founder of Afriq Arbitrage System (AAS) cryptocurrency trading platform whom the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sued for investment fraud, was denied bail application on Friday.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja refused his bail application because a charge had already been filed against him, and his arraignment must take place before any bail application could be considered, Nairametrics reported.

EFCC sued Michael in April for investment fraud amounting to $844,000, $10,000 and N590 million.

According to the commission, Michael lured investors to deposit money into AAS between September 2022 and June 2023, even though the platform was not licensed to operate as a financial institution or investment firm.

He was able to attract investors with the false promise that their investments were safe and refundable. He would, however, orchestrate a fraudulent move that prevented the investors from accessing their funds.

In March, FIJ reported how Michael managed to secure a Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) certificate from the EFCC without proper checks.

FIJ understands that more than 50,000 investors from 127 countries, including Nigeria, invested roughly $1.6 billion with Michael and his cryptocurrency trading platform.

The AAS platform went live in January 2023. But about two weeks after trading commenced, between January 14 and 18, investors discovered they could not withdraw their funds from their AAS wallet.

“When investors confronted Jesam (Michael) with the issue, he told us that hackers were beginning to disturb the site and he needed to take urgent steps to prevent them from succeeding,” one of the affected investors told FIJ.

Then on April 10, 2023, investors found that the platform had shut down.

On Friday, while ruling against Michael’s bail application, Justice Nwite stated that the interest of justice would be better served by allowing the court handling the pending charges to address both Michael’s arraignment and bail.

Meanwhile, there seems to be a growing concern, particularly from the EFCC, that the temptation to jump bail is high now that charges have been filed.