How Nigeria’s largest advance fee fraud scheme unfolded This image captures a defining moment in one of the most notorious financial crime cases in Nigeria’s history, commonly referred to as the Emmanuel Nwude–Banco Noroeste fraud case. The photograph shows key figures involved in the scandal during legal proceedings at the Abuja High Court in the mid-2000s, symbolising Nigeria’s intensified effort to confront large-scale financial crimes. Between 1995 and 1998, Emmanuel Nwude masterminded an elaborate international fraud that defrauded Banco Noroeste, a Brazilian bank, of approximately US$242 million. Posing as representatives of the Nigerian...