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A Nigerian pastor, Apostle Theophilus Oloche Ebonyi, of The Faith on the Rock Ministry International, was arrested by the EFCC after he allegedly defrauded his vulnerable members of a whopping sum of 1.3 billion naira in what is undoubtedly the largest Ponzi scheme we have seen this year.
He reportedly lured his victims through an advertisement that the Ford Foundation was purportedly providing a grant of $20 billion to aid the poor in Nigeria, but they had to pay to benefit from the grant.
The pastor carried out the publicity through Theobarth Global Foundation. He allegedly hoodwinked his victims into subscribing as beneficiaries of the phony grant by asking them to pay for registration forms and clusters.
Each subscriber was made to pay N1.8 million in order to get 1 billion grant.
The pastor, Mr. Ebonyi, allegedly raked in N1.39 billion from unsuspecting individuals and non-governmental organizations.
With 1.3 billion in his account, he went on an acquisition spree, acquiring several properties, including a 23-room hotel and event center, a warehouse and sachet water factory, and several office buildings in Nassarawa state.
The sum of 1 billion naira was found in his bank account domiciled with First Bank.
The EFCC arrested him in 2023 after the Ford Foundation denied any involvement in the scheme.
Just last week, the 1 billion found in his bank account and the properties acquired in Nassarwa State were forfeited to the federal government after it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that they were all proceeds of crime.
A reminder that crime does not pay, so stay away from Ponzi and Yahoo! Yahoo!
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