A breakdown of what courts actually order forfeited across 5,241 convictions, and why the recovery architecture is calibrated for phones, not blockchains.
The most common forfeiture in Nigerian financial crime convictions is a combination of cash (Naira) and a mobile phone. In crypto cases specifically, 41 of 81 convicted defendants forfeited their phone as the primary physical asset. Vehicles appear in only 9 cases. Laptops in 4. No crypto wallets, private keys, or on-chain assets appear as named forfeiture items in the court decisions reviewed.
This pattern raises a fundamental question: if the criminal proceeds moved through blockchain addresses, why is the forfeiture order focused on the hardware rather than the on-chain assets? The answer likely lies in the same capacity gap that the plea bargain exacerbates: without judicial guidance on how to identify, trace, and forfeit virtual assets, prosecutors default to seizing what they can see and touch.
Source: Project THEMIS case database (n=7,167 financial crime cases, 96 crypto-related). Methodology details available at themis.ng/methodology.