Court Restrains Alleged Cyber-criminals From Publishing Negative Publicity Against SportyBet

A Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja has granted a Pre-Emptive Order restraining alleged cyber-criminals who sought to defraud SportyBet from peddling or publishing, or continuing to broadcast any narratives, writeups and or any adverse publicity on social media platforms, the allegation of restrictions placed on their user accounts as a result of a potential cyber-crime offence currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice D.T Olatokun gave the order upon reading a 32-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Beulah Akingbelu, the legal officer of the applicant, and after hearing Dr. Kemi Pinheiro SAN, appearing with Bolu Agbaje Akadri, and Benita Morka for the applicant.

Listed as defendants in the suit marked lD/5719MJR/2024 are, Obinna George Unegbu, Uchenna Ofurum, Ifenna Moneke, Busola Olamide Aina, and Adedamola Oluwaseun Okunlola, suing them as themselves and as representatives of the 42 SportyBet users whose name appear on the schedule of a list of accounts that were restricted by SportyBet after fraudulent activity was detected by the platform’s anti-fraud technology.

The court also restrained the Respondents from publishing or issuing any press release alleging, or portraying to any third party, individual or entity, (either orally, in writing or by conduct) that the Applicant is fraudulent, engages or carries on any fraudulent, suspicious or illegal activity in so far as it relates to the restriction placed on the Respondents’ user accounts on the SportyBet platform.

SportyBet had previously reported the Respondents, having restricted their user accounts – all of which were abusively operated from the same IP address, to relevant authorities.

Since this time, media platforms, newspapers and social media influencers have been used in an attempt to wilfully damage SportyBet’s brand and reputation in an organized smear campaign.

SportyBet is a globally renowned sports betting brand which operates in multiple countries and continents, has served tens of millions of users worldwide and has been operating as a regulated online sports betting operator in in Nigeria for more than 12 years.