Joshua Adeyinka Kayode, the founding father of QUINTESSENTIAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED, is on the centre of a high-profile {financial} scandal after allegedly defrauding an funding agency of N1.8 billion, triggering a collapse that left a whole lot of Nigerian traders stranded.
The alleged fraud got here to gentle when Voltac International Capital (VGC), a finance and asset administration agency owned by businessman Dapo Abiola, disclosed in an inner memo that Kayode—by his firm—had defaulted on a significant commerce deal involving funds entrusted to him for funding.
VGC, based in Could 2020, had promised traders a 20% month-to-month return on funding. For 9 months, the corporate lived as much as that promise, rapidly constructing a popularity as a reliable and high-yield platform.
Nevertheless, in early 2021, it immediately stopped paying returns, citing regulatory audits and disruptions attributable to the federal authorities’s cryptocurrency ban.
On March 31, 2021, the corporate revealed that Joshua Adeyinka Kayode, by QUINTESSENTIAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED, had been entrusted with a good portion of investor funds. In response to VGC, Kayode didn’t remit the required $4 million, a default that destabilized the corporate’s liquidity and halted its operations.
“Whereas making an attempt to recuperate from the panic withdrawals triggered by the crypto ban, Kayode, who had traded with a significant share of the Voltac International Capital funding, didn’t remit the required quantity of N1.8 billion,” the memo acknowledged.
The corporate subsequently invited the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) to analyze the matter. In a follow-up memo issued in September, VGC confirmed that Kayode had been charged to courtroom and that the Pressure Legal Investigation and Intelligence Division (FCIID), Alagbon, was dealing with the case.
In the meantime, traders have continued to endure the results of the {financial} collapse. Some obtained as little as 10% or 7.5% of their investments, whereas many received nothing. The agency has since suspended operations, frozen withdrawals, laid off employees, and admitted it lacks the {financial} capability to course of additional funds.
“Since September 2, now we have had no information from the corporate,” mentioned Baliqees, a final-year college pupil who misplaced almost ₦1 million to the scheme. “That they had promised previously that we’d get our capital again. However proper now, that’s not even certain anymore.”
In response to findings by the Basis for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), this isn’t the primary time Kayode has been accused of fraud. He allegedly posed as an funding knowledgeable in an earlier scheme that defrauded 170 Nigerians of ₦10.7 billion.
Within the present case, he reportedly obtained ₦1.8 billion from VGC underneath the promise of rising the funds by commerce and returning income to maintain the corporate’s 20% ROI construction. His failure to ship on that promise has now left a path {of financial} devastation and authorized fallout.
Regardless of the fees, Kayode has not made any public assertion concerning the allegations.
As of now, traders stay in limbo—awaiting justice, restitution, or perhaps a response.