Lawrence Olanrewaju Folawunmi, an alleged Nigerian internet fraudster, has been arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and remanded by the Federal High Court pending his extradition to the United States over an alleged $1.24 million fraud.
Folawunmi is wanted by US authorities for offences bordering on business email compromise, aiding and abetting wire fraud, and wire fraud amounting to $1,245,585.97.
Prosecutors allege that he fraudulently manipulated payment details in at least eight transactions between 2021 and 2024, causing a US-based company to reroute funds to accounts linked to the scheme.
He was apprehended by operatives of Nigeria’s Interpol unit and the Force Criminal Investigation Department (ForceCID) following an Interpol Red Notice issued at the request of the United States.
The arrest was carried out on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
On Friday, Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered that Lawrence Olanrewaju Folawunmi be remanded in custody after granting an application filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) under the Extradition Act (Cap. E25).
The AGF sought his remand in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service pending the hearing and determination of the extradition proceedings.
The extradition request arises from Criminal Case No. 3:21-00276, filed on November 15, 2021, by a US grand jury sitting in the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville.
The charge was certified by Clerk Mork H. Wildasin and Deputy Clerk Taylor J. Philips.
Folawunmi’s defence counsel, Wasiu Liadi, did not oppose the remand application but requested an early hearing date to enable the defence respond.
In a brief ruling, Justice Aluko granted the application and adjourned the matter to January 21, 2026, for the extradition hearing.
In an affidavit in support of the application, the AGF stated that the United States had formally requested Folawunmi’s arrest and extradition, assuring the court that the offences were not political in nature and that the request was made in good faith and in the interest of justice.
The AGF further averred that Folawunmi would not be detained or tried in the US for any offence other than those forming the basis of the extradition request, and that he would not be prejudiced, punished, or restricted on account of his race, nationality, religion, or political opinions.
It was also stated that the alleged offences were not trivial and that there were no pending criminal proceedings against Folawunmi in Nigeria for the same offences.
The arrest and ongoing extradition process have drawn widespread attention on social media, with many observers describing the development as further evidence of growing cooperation between Nigerian law enforcement agencies and their international counterparts in tackling transnational cybercrime and financial fraud.