Capital market fraud case: The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, arraigned Oluwaseyi Hevleen Johnson before Justice D.I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Johnson, alongside her company, XY Connects Global Investments Limited, is facing a two-count charge for allegedly operating a collective investment scheme without obtaining the required licence from either the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
One of the charges reads:
*”That you, OLUWASEYI HEVLEEN JOHNSON and XY CONNECTS GLOBAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED, sometime in 2022 in Nigeria, within the Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, being an alter ego and a company incorporated in Nigeria respectively, failed to obtain a valid licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria to carry on your business of Investment Management with Solomon Okedara and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 57 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 and punishable under Section 57(5) of the same Act.”*
Johnson pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following her plea, the prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, requested a date for the commencement of trial. Meanwhile, the defence counsel informed the court of a pending bail application and asked that it be heard.
In presenting the bail request, the defence counsel appealed to the court’s leniency, noting that the defendant is a first-time offender and a single mother of three children, aged between 9 and 16. He also stated that Johnson had begun restitution to the petitioner.
Sill on Capital market fraud case
Justice Dipeolu, although observing that the bail application lacked substantial grounds, granted bail in the interest of justice. The bail was set at ₦1 million with one surety in the same amount. The surety must be a responsible Nigerian and provide proof of tax payments for the last three years.
The judge adjourned the case to June 27, 2025, for trial and ordered that Johnson be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Kirikiri, Lagos, pending the fulfillment of the bail conditions.
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