N1.38bn fraud: Court adjourns Jude Okoye’s trial till October

N1.38bn fraud: Court adjourns Jude Okoye’s trial till October

Justice A. Owoeye of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, adjourned till October 23, 2025 further hearing in the alleged N1.38bn fraud involving Jude Okoye, elder brother and former manager of Paul and Peter Okoye (P-Square).

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is prosecuting Jude Okoye alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N1.38bn.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Limited, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No 5, Tony Eromosele Street Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos worth ₦850,000,000.00 (eight hundred and fifty million naira only), which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known form part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

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Jude Okoye pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when they were read to him, upon his arraignment on February 26, 2025.

At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the first prosecution witness, PW1, Peter Obumuneme Okoye, while being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Clement Onwuewunor SAN, said that he never signed any cheque and had no access to the accounts while still signed to Northside Entertainment.

He also told the court that, although he received some money from the Ecobank account of the company, they were not royalties because the account also received millions of dollars from endorsements and shows.

He maintained that he never knew about the existence of Northside Music Limited, his brother’s company, until late 2022 and that he didn’t receive any proceeds from Lex Records all through his time at the company.

Justice Owoeye, thereafter, adjourned the matter till October 23 and November 10, 2025 for continuation of trial.

 

N1.38bn fraud: Court adjourns Jude Okoye’s trial till October