Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered 54 banks to immediately refund a total of N9,329,322,870 fraudulently transferred by hackers from an unnamed old-generation bank.
The ruling, delivered on April 15, 2025, followed an ex parte motion in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/629/2025. The court directed the affected financial institutions to impose Post No Debit restrictions on all accounts that received portions of the stolen funds and to begin immediate restitution of any recoverable sums to the originating bank.
According to the plaintiff, the breach occurred on March 23, 2025, when hackers exploited the bank’s core banking system to withdraw unauthorized funds from several customer accounts. The stolen amount, totaling over N9.3 billion, was traced to various accounts across 54 financial institutions.
The bank reported that upon discovering the breach, it promptly notified the involved banks and began tracking fund movements. Investigations showed the money was transferred in batches into primary accounts, which then funneled the funds into secondary and tertiary accounts.
Justice Dipeolu ruled that the respondent banks must provide full details of all implicated accounts, including account balances and any funds already moved. The judge also ordered the immediate return of all available funds to the plaintiff bank.
Additionally, the banks are required to submit complete customer information, such as names and destination account details tied to the illicit transactions. The restrictions are to remain on all involved accounts until the full recovery of the stolen amount, limited to the sums each received.
The court emphasized that the order applies exclusively to the fraudulently transferred funds and does not affect legitimate customer deposits.
“To be clear, the order concerns only erroneously transferred and traceable funds,” the judge stated.
Justice Dipeolu affirmed that the stolen funds belong to the plaintiff bank, not to customers of the recipient banks, asserting the court’s authority to enforce total restitution.
