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THE BLACK SHEEP: 33 Nigerians on trial in Texas for romance scams

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NIGERIA'S BLACK SHEEP

 

A total of 33 Nigerians have been indicted by Federal grand juries in the Northern and Eastern districts of Texas for defrauding elderly victims in fake romance schemes.

One of the Nigerians, 51 year-old Irabor Fatarr Musa was indicted by the two districts.

According to acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah, 11 Nigerians were indicted by the Department of Justice northern district, all arrested during a large-scale operation last Wednesday morning.

They have been charged with a variety of financial crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

The majority of the defendants charged in this investigation have ties to a transnational organized crime syndicate originating in Nigeria, law enforcement revealed at the weekend.

According to court documents, the Nigerians preyed on elderly victims, many of whom were widowed or divorced.

They assumed fake names and trolled dating sites like Match.com, ChistianMingle, JSwipe, and PlentyofFish, searching for targets.

Once they had ingratiated themselves with their victims, they allegedly concocted sob-stories about why they needed money – i.e., taxes to release an inheritance, essential overseas travel, crippling debt, etc.

They then siphoned money from victim’s accounts, tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

“Crimes like these are especially despicable because they rely not only on victims’ lack of internet savvy, but also, their isolation, their loneliness, and sometimes their grief.

“As the victims open their hearts, the perpetrators open their wallets,” Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said at a press conference announcing the charges.

“The only mistake these victims make is being generous to the wrong people.”

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“The crimes allegedly committed by these defendants hit close to home. Your neighbours, parents, friends and family would be targets of this organization.

“The fraudsters intimidated and berated their victims, ruined their lives, really, and then disappeared,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno.

“We’re confident this investigation will have a significant impact on this region and beyond.”

The indictments unsealed today in the Northern District of Texas complement a related indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Texas, which charges 23 defendants (including one also charged in the Northern District of Texas) with a variety of financial crimes.

Those charged in the Northern District of Texas include:

*David Animashaun, 38 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy

*Oluwalobamise Michael Moses, 40 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy

*Irabor Fatarr Musa, 51 – arrested in the Eastern District of Texas, charged by the Northern District of Texas wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy

*Ijeoma Okoro, 31 – arrested in DFW, wire fraud conspiracy fraud, money laundering conspiracy

*Chukwemeka Orji, 36 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy

*Emanuel Stanley Orji, 35 – arrested in DFW, charged with wire fraud conspiracy

*Frederick Orji, 37 – arrested in Dallas, charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy

*Uwadiale Esezobor, 36 – arrested in Lubbock, charged with mail & wire fraud conspiracy

*Victor Idowu, 36 – arrested in Los Angeles, charged with mail & wire fraud conspiracy

*Afeez Abiola Alao, 37 – wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy

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*Ambrose Sunday Ohide, 47 – wire fraud conspiracy

If convicted, the defendants face up 20 years in federal prison on the wire fraud conspiracy counts and up to 10 years in federal prison on the money laundering conspiracy counts.

A federal grand jury in Sherman in the Eastern District of Texas has also indicted 23 other Nigerians for similar scams.

They are:

Indicted individuals that have been arrested include:

Kingsley Ita, aka “Baron” “Sifk,” 42, of Dallas;

Irabor Fatarr Musa, aka “Fatai” “Head JJ,” 51, of Richardson;

Solomon Esekheigbe, 48, of Katy;

Sandra Iribhogbe Popnen, aka “General,” 46, of Allen;

Edgal Iribhogbe, aka “Oseme,” 50, of Allen;

Damilola Kumapayi, aka “Luke Morris,” 33, of Dallas;

Ehiedu Onyeagwu, aka “Young,” 58, of Rosedale, Maryland;

Mathew Okpu, 57, of Temple Hille, Maryland;

Benedicta Atakare, 46, of Temple Hills, Maryland;

Segun Adeoye, 47, of Pearland;

Chidindu Okeke, aka “Steve,” 28, of Richmond;

Ngozi Okeke, 47, of Katy;

Nosoregbe Asemota, aka “Patrick Asemota,” 46, of Melissa;

Chigozi Ekwenugo, 53, of Grand Prairie;

Bukola Obaseki, 48, of Allen;

Stella Hadome, 43, of Allen;

Jequita Batchelor, 37, of Farmers Branch;

Osaretin Eghaghe, aka “Biggie,” 37, of Plano;

Ejiro Ohwovoriole, 29, of McKinney;

Isaac Asare, aka “Asarko,” 48, of Houston;

Gold Ude, 44, of Wylie;

Henrietha Oziegbe, 23, of Lexington, Kentucky; and

Kingsly Oziegbe, 25, of Edinburg.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Nicholas J. Ganjei announced the indictment

The indictment, returned on Sep. 8, 2021, charges the Nigerians with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. `

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All the defendants have been arraigned.

“The criminal conduct alleged in this case is sophisticated in its means, expansive in its scope, and callous in its aims,” said Ganjei.

“The indictment alleges a scheme where all manner of fraud—including romance and investment scams—was unleashed on an unsuspecting American public, including the elderly and most vulnerable, with the ill-gotten gains syphoned off and funneled overseas.

“The amount of loss, both financial and emotional, alleged in this case is nothing short of staggering,” he said.

According to the indictment, beginning around January 2017, the defendants used a multitude of fraudulent schemes to obtain money from their victims, including online romance scams, business email compromise and investor fraud, and unemployment insurance fraud.

The indictment further alleges that the defendants not only coordinated how to extract money from their victims, but how to disguise, disburse, and launder that money once they successfully defrauded their victims.

Allegedly, the defendants obtained at least $17 million from at least 100 individual victims, companies, and government entities from across the world.

The defendants are alleged to have specifically targeted elderly persons and used various schemes such as online dating sites to lure their victims.

The indictment charges that once they fraudulently obtained funds from their victims, the defendants laundered the money through a network of various bank accounts and sent money to bank accounts, co-conspirators and businesses located in Africa and Asia.

In March 2020, the FBI similarly arrested 24 individuals, some of them Nigerians, running scams in Texas from Atlanta Georgia.

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Nigerian who relocated to UK in 2022 beats wife to death

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A United Kingdom-based Nigerian man, Olubunmi Abodunde, has beaten his wife, Taiwo, to death with their son’s skateboard, Daily Mail reports.

The couple, who had three children, arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022 and always clashed over alleged affairs and arguments about bills.

According to the news platform, 48-year-old Abodunde had been repeatedly investigated by Suffolk Police about domestic violence and was due to go on trial for murder but changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday after a jury had been sworn in.

During the abuse, officers heard ‘a number of bangs’ inside the house, which Abodunde had gone into, despite bail conditions imposed the day before that banned him from the property following another violent episode.

 

When they finally entered 25 minutes later, they found the wife, 41-year-old Taiwo, with her ‘skull smashed in’.

However, Judge Martyn Levett, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, warned him the only possible sentence was life imprisonment.

 

Suffolk Constabulary has referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which confirmed three officers were under investigation.

An IOPC spokesman said, “We advised two Suffolk officers that they are under investigation for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour at the level of gross misconduct.

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“We advised another officer that they are under investigation at the level of misconduct.”

 

Abodunde had a history of jealousy and suspicion and accused his wife of having affairs. He had been investigated by police a number of times over alleged domestic violence incidents before his wife’s death.

He was arrested on April 27 last year when police arrived at the couple’s home in Newmarket, Suffolk, and found Mrs Abodunde with a split lip.

Later that day, he was freed on police bail with the condition that he stayed away from the marital home and didn’t approach his wife.

But after working a night shift at Tesco, he went home just after 9 am to allegedly pick up his mobile phone.

 

Two officers arrived at 9.20 am to take a statement from Mrs Abodunde about the previous night’s incident and heard repeated banging noises inside.

 

But it wasn’t until 9.55 am that they forced their way in after getting approval from senior officers and found Mrs Abodunde ‘obviously dead’ near the front door.

A post-mortem examination later showed she had been throttled until she fell unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were broken before her husband used the skateboard to finish her off. The blows were so violent that the skateboard was damaged.

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Prosecutor Simon Spence KC told the court the banging officers heard was likely to have been Abodunde continuing to attack his wife after she was unconscious or dead.

Mrs Abodunde had a job as a care home assistant in Cambridge, but her husband, who had trained as a civil engineer, was unable to find work in his profession and took shifts at Tesco and Wickes.

 

After his arrest for the murder, Abodunde was taken to hospital “because he appeared to have some sort of mental episode”.

 

He later claimed in a police statement he had acted in self-defence, saying, “My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years.

“On November 28, we got into an argument. She ran at me with a knife, I grabbed the knife and cut my hand. I was defending myself.”

 

But the court heard while he did have an injury to his hand, there wasn’t a knife near his wife’s body.

 

Nneka Akudolu KC, defending, said the level of violence was ‘completely out of character’ for her client and might have been affected by medication he was taking. But she said no medical evidence would be provided to support this claim.

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Detective Inspector Dan Connick, of Suffolk Police, said after the hearing, “This was an awful attack on a woman that has had a lasting impact on the community and, most importantly, on the victim’s family.

 

‘We are pleased that Taiwo’s family will no longer have to go through the pain of a trial.

 

‘Our thoughts remain with Taiwo’s family and friends and hope this result will bring some small comfort to them.’

 

Taiwo Abodunde worked for Cambridge Manor Care Home, which provides dementia care and residential and respite care.

 

A spokesman for the facility, which is owned by TLC Care, said: ‘We are all deeply shaken and upset by the tragic death of Taiwo, who was a much-loved member of our home community.

 

‘Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with her family. Taiwo always cared for those we support with compassion and kindness, and she will be greatly missed by all of us and our residents.’

 

Abodunde was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 9.

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Alleged procurement fraud: Court adjourns Emefiele‘s trial to June 24

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A federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Maitama has adjourned the trial of Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to June 24. 

 

When the case was called on Thursday, neither the prosecution counsel nor the defendant were in court. However, Emefiele was represented by one of his counsels.

 

I.D Ahmed, who represented the defendant, told the court that the prosecution served him a letter praying for an adjournment.

 

He also apologised to the court for the absence of his client.

 

Hamza Muazu, presiding judge, said: “Because you have a letter of adjournment from the prosecution does not mean the defendant should not be in court.”

 

Muazu then adjourned until June 24 and June 25 for continuation of trial.

 

The federal government, on January 18, amended the criminal charges filed against the former CBN governor.

 

The charges, formerly six counts, were increased to 20 counts.

 

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The amended charges border on alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit a felony.

 

At the previous hearing, the court agreed to vary Emefiele’s bail condition which previously restricted him to the FCT.

 

The court granted the application permitting the former CBN governor to travel within Nigeria but restrained him from leaving the country during the pendency of the case.

In some of the counts, the EFCC alleged that Emefiele, in January 2023, forged a document titled: “RE: PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON FOREIGN ELECTION OBSERVER MISSIONS,” dated 26 January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201.

 

The EFCC said Emefiele made the claim despite knowing it to be false and committed an offence contrary to section 1(1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.

 

According to the amended charge marked CR/577/2023, Emefiele, on February 8, 2023, connived with one Odoh Ocheme, who is now on the run, to obtain $6.2m from the CBN, claiming that the SGF requested it “vide a letter dated 26th January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201″.

 

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Meanwhile, the EFCC had also declared Magaret, Emefiele’s wife, wanted for money laundering.

 

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Mother, son, one other electrocuted in Ogun market

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No fewer than three people, including a mother and child, were reportedly electrocuted at Mowe Market in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The incident reportedly happened on Monday following the restoration of power after the Sunday downpour.

 

The Chairman of the Local Government, Ambassador Adesina Ogunsola, during his visit to the market on Wednesday gave a seven-day notice to all the traders with shops and stalls under the high-tension powerline to vacate to forestall a repeat of the tragic incident.

 

An eyewitness said that the electric shock was from the step-down transformer suspended on an electrical pole next to the shop where the incident happened, just as the shop owners arrived for their daily sales in the market.

 

The woman and her son were said to have been burnt beyond recognition.

 

The Director of Information at the Obafemi Owode Local Government, Segun Soneye, confirmed the incident on Thursday.

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Soneye, in a statement, blamed the incident on the erection of shops made of iron under the powerline by the traders.

 

He said, “The chairman of the council had visited the affected shop owners and commiserated with them over the incident.

“The LG boss has already given shop owners a seven-day ultimatum to evacuate their make-shift shops built under the high tension powerline to forestall the recurrence of the incident.”

Speaking during his visit to the market, Ogunsola who commiserated with the families of the victims, also blamed the incident on the nonchalant attitude of the.

 

The LG boss wondered why people would disregard safety rules and have their shops close to electrical poles that carry step-down transformers.

 

Ogunsola, while giving the vacation order to the traders with shops and stalls under the powerline, said, “Let me also say that everyone that has extended its shop beyond where it should be, particularly those under high-tension cables should start removing it from today.”

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The police spokesman, Omolola Odutola, also confirmed the incident but said only the mother, Ujuwa Okechukwu, died from the incident.

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