The High Court granted the Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency (ASA) an urgent application to freeze $52.5 million in 52 accounts that are allegedly owned by Flutterwave.
Suspicious transactions indicated at accounts held at Guaranty Trust Bank, Equity Bank, and Ecobank were flagged in court documents at the Kenyan High Court. Court papers further revealed that wire transfers from Flutterwave were made to Boxtrip Travel & Tours, Bagtrip Travel, Elivalat Fintech, Adguru Technology, Hupesi Solutions, and Cruz Ride Auto, but were all stopped by the country's judiciary. The fintech giant has also been operating in Kenya without a license from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the nation's monetary authority, as required under section 12 of the National Payment System Act, argued ASA.
In response to the allegations, Flutterwave issued this statement: “Claims of financial improprieties involving the company in Kenya are entirely false, and we have the records to verify this.
“We are a financial technology company that maintains the highest regulatory standards in our operations. Our Anti-money laundering (AML) practices and operations are regularly audited by one of the Big four firms. We remain proactive in our engagements with regulatory bodies to continue to stay compliant.”
Mounting allegations against Flutterwave
These latest fraud claims point to a pattern of ongoing issues with internal systemic governance and cultural norms. Award-winning Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin released a shocking exposé on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, that claimed the $billion plus -valued business had engaged in fraud, sexual harassment, and workplace bullying.
Accounts were used to launder money under the pretense of offering merchant services - Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency.
Flutterwave was the target of one of the most dramatic fraud allegations involving impersonation and deception. The current CEO and co-founder of Flutterwave, Olugbenga "GB" Agboola, informed the company's former CEO and co-founder, Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji, that "Greg," Flutterwave's CTO, would require a share allocation of 10%. It was discovered that "Greg" was a made-up character invented by GB to give himself an additional 10% of the 62,5% of Flutterwave shares that were intended to be shared between him and E.
“When I joined the company [Flutterwave], I was told there’s a Chief Technology Officer named Greg, who’s from MIT, whom I’d meet someday. It never happened,” Aboyeji said. “After a while, it became clear what had happened. By that time it didn’t matter. We [Aboyeji and third co-founder Adeleke Adekoya] had already signed agreements, and I decided to just move on,"
