Metro News
Hushpuppi’s ally, Woodberry pleads guilty to fraud, agrees to settle victims with $8Million
Olalekan Ponle, better known as Woodberry, has pleaded guilty to a fraud charge at a United States district court, according to report.
The district court for Northern Illinois has set 11 July for his sentencing.
Woodberry is well-known to be an ally of another Nigerian international fraudster, Ramon Abbas, alias Hushpuppi, who was jailed last year.
The two men were arrested for extensive international online scams in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on 10 June 2020, and were flown to the United States to face separate trials.
Hushpuppi, who initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea to guilty in April 2021, just before a full-blown trial was to begin. The US district court for Central California where prosecutors charged him jailed him for 11 years and ordered him to pay $1.7 million restitution in November 2022.
Hushpuppi gets over 11-year jail term, to pay $1.8 million restitution
Woodberry, accused of defrauding a US company of about $188,000, similarly maintained his innocence for over two years.
He has, however, made a U-turn to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud during a change of plea hearing at the US District Court for Northern Illinois this April, according to court documents.
The judge, Robert Gettleman, accepted the defendant’s change of plea in a ruling delivered on 6 April.
He set 11 July for sentencing after accepting the plea agreement Woodberry entered into with US prosecutors.
The judge referred the case to the Probation Department for a pre-sentence investigation and report, which would guide his decision on the appropriate sentence to impose.
He gave the US government 60 days before the sentencing date to provide the Probation Office and the courtroom deputy a list of victims and their full current contact information to obtain the court’s order of restitution.
“The list shall include any amounts subject to restitution. If the Government is not able to provide the full victim list 60 days before sentencing, they shall file a motion to request an extension of time to compile the information,” the judge added.
Woodberry and Fraud
In pleading guilty, Woodberry confessed to defrauding a company in New York, identified as “Victim Company B” of almost $188,000 through online scams involving business email comprise schemes.
US prosecutors said starting from January 2019, Ponle and his co-schemers “were engaged in a business email compromise scheme targeting Victim Company B and other companies which resulted in a fraudulent wire of approximately $188,191.50 to a bank account.”
How fraudulent plot was hatched
According to the court filing, the scheme began with one or more of Mr Ponle’s co-schemers gaining unauthorised access to Victim Company B’s email account on or before 16 January 2019.
They hacked into the email account by fraudulently obtaining the account credentials, according to the prosecutors.
“Once access to this email account (“Victim Company B Email Account”) had been accomplished, the co-schemers changed certain security settings in the email account to hide their activity from the actual email account user,” prosecutors said in the plea agreement signed by Woodberry.
Swiftly, on 16 January 2019, an email was sent from the compromised Victim Company B’s email account to another email account of the company requesting a $188,191.50 payment be made to Victim Company B’s supplier.
The email, according to prosecutors, contained instructions that the money be sent via wire transfer to a bank account which was set up by Whiteberry.
“PONLE knew that he had no right to the money and that the email was intended to defraud Victim Company B into paying money owed to the supplier to an account controlled by PONLE rather than the supplier.
“As a result of the email, approximately $188,191.50 was sent to 8208 account. PONLE acknowledges that the wire was processed through the Federal Reserve System and sent from an account held in New York, New York to an account ending in held in Nashville, Tennessee,” the plea agreement added.
HUSHPUPPI
The document went further to state that on 17 January 2019, Mr Ponle received a message from Individual B informing him that “The money is in”.
It added that Woodberry’s instruction, Individual B converted approximately $119,000 of the proceeds of the fraudulent wire transfer to Bitcoin. “Individual B then sent the Bitcoin to PONLE’s Bitcoin wallet.”
How fraudulent bank account was set up
Woodberry, according to the plea agreement, set up the fraudulent bank account with which he received proceeds of the fraud nine days before he requested payment through Victim Company B’s compromised email account on 16 January 2019.
The prosecutors say, specifically on 7 January 2019, Mr Ponle, using the alias “Mark Kain,” sent a message from outside the US to “Individual B” asking Individual B to open a bank account in the name of a Victim Company B supplier.
Woodberry was said to have told Individual B to “set up a separate business account just to receive the money.”
Acting at Mr Ponle’s direction, Individual B opened an account under the name “[Individual B] d/b/a [Victim Company B supplier]” and sent the account number, which ended in 8208, and routing number to him, the court filing stated.
On 10 January 2019, he sent a message to Individual B indicating that the wire to the Victim Company B supplier account would be “$188K”.
The prosecutor is pushing for the court to order the defendant to make full restitution in the amount outstanding at the time of sentencing.
The US government last year described w Woodberry’s ally, Hushpuppi as “a prolific international fraudster who conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars through a series of online scams.”
The government said Hushpupi “flaunted his luxurious, crime-funded lifestyle on social media.”
WOODBERRY
His Instagram account, his flagship platform for flaunting his expensive lifestyle, has since been closed at the request of the US government.
Nineteen people were, on Sunday, burnt to death in an auto crash along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi state.
In a statement by Jonas Agwu, its public education officer, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said the accident involved a Dangote truck with registration details NSH680YJ and a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number KMC455ZE.
According to the FRSC, both vehicles suffered a head-on collision after a route violation by the truck, resulting in an inferno.
The agency said out of the all-male
22 passengers involved in the accident, three were rescued.
“The TYT bus loaded from Kano was on its lane on the highway when the Dangote Truck driver who drove all the way from Port Harcourt wrongfully overtook a vehicle & collided head-on with the bus. The impact of the collision resulted in an inferno that burnt the victims to death,” the statement reads.
“Unfortunately, 19 people out of the 22 victims were killed and 1 injured. The remaining 2 victims who got rescued by FRSC operatives without injuries survived the crash because they complied with traffic regulations on compulsory use of seatbelt.
“The corpses of the dead victims whose lives were claimed by the crash have been deposited at Okene General Hospital.”
Dauda Biu, the FRSC corps marshal, said the agency will continue its ongoing prosecution of drivers “who by their actions cause road traffic crashes in Nigeria”.
Biu further called on the judiciary and leadership of transport unions and other relevant stakeholders in the road transportation sector to join hands with the corps to ensure speedy and effective prosecution of offenders.
Two notorious drug kingpins, Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince, will now spend the rest of their lives in jail, following their arrests and prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The sentencing of the two drug kingpins was disclosed in a statement signed by the spokesperson of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, and made available to Channels Television on Sunday.
He said that the journey of Uwaezuoke, a 43-year-old businessman to a lifetime in jail began when he was first arrested by NDLEA operatives on 19th March 2022 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after he was found to have ingested 100 big wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms.
“He was subsequently arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 and was granted bail on certain conditions after he pleaded not guilty. He thereafter absconded, leading the court to revoke his bail and issue an arrest warrant against him.
“In a curious twist, Uwaezuoke was again arrested by NDLEA operatives on 1st August 2023, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos while attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India through ingestion using a different passport and under a different name, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi.
“He was again arraigned before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division in charge number FHC/L/554C/2023. He pleaded guilty to the two counts charge and was convicted and sentenced on 18th October 2023 to a total term of seven years of imprisonment or a fine of ₦1, 500,000.00. He paid the fine and was transferred to Abuja to face the importation case pending against him.
“He was re-arraigned on 20th March 2024 at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik, where he pleaded guilty again. Despite his plea, the court, noting his lack of remorse, the seriousness of drug-related offences and the fact that he is a repeated offender, convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment,” the statement said.
In the case of 42-year-old Agbo Chidike Prince, Babafemi said he was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during the outward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight to Hong Kong on 21st October 2023 for ingesting 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73grams.
“Upon his arraignment before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, the defendant pleaded guilty to the one count charge, prompting the prosecution to present evidence and review the facts of the case.
“Despite the plea of allocutus by the defendant’s counsel, the court, noting the nature of the case and the commercial quantity of the drug, emphasized the seriousness of drug-related offences, convicted and sentenced the defendant on 15th April, 2024 to life imprisonment.”
Meanwhile, NDLEA said its officers at the gate C departure hall of the Lagos airport on Friday 26th April arrested a passenger, Yahaya Danjuma Oturah, while attempting to export 4,000 pills of tramadol 225mg to Malpensa, Italy on an Ethiopian Airline flight.
The Agency further narrated, “The psychoactive substance was found concealed in women wears and granulated melon packed in the suspect’s backpack and another bag containing food items. In his statement, Oturah who is a frequent flyer confessed he was hired to courier the drug for 700 Euros on successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.
“In Bayelsa, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 24th April arrested 28-year-old Jennifer Iliya at Amarata area of Yenagoa for producing and distributing cakes laced with illicit drugs especially cannabis sativa. At the time of her arrest, substantial number of the drugged cakes weighing 1.5kg were recovered from her. A 20-year-old hair stylist, Josephine Odunu and a dispatch rider, Edesemi Ikporo, 30, had been arrested on Sunday 10th March by NDLEA operatives for in Yenagoa for a similar offence.
“Two suspects: Joseph Dadik, 47, and Bensha Yari, 32, were arrested with 24,180 ampoules of pentazocine injection weighing 135.5 kilograms at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna, while Adamu Umar, 18, was nabbed with 20.700kg cannabis when his house in Shuware area of Mubi, Adamawa state was raided on Friday 26th April.
“No less than 310.7kg cannabis was recovered on Thursday 25th April when NDLEA operatives raided parts of Mushin in Lagos state. While 300kg was seized at Olatunji Street, Mushin, 10.7kg of same substance was retrieved from two suspects: Tijani Wasiu and Suleiman Aisha at Anifowose, Mushin.
“While Stanley Chukwudi, 43, was arrested with 5,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection at Sabon Gari area of Kano State on Thursday 25th April, a couple, Fredrick Odion, 53, and Gladys Odion, 52, were nabbed with 50kg cannabis at Iruekpen, Esan west LGA, Edo state by NDLEA officers on Wednesday 24th April.
“With the same zeal, the various commands of the Agency across the country continued with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaign in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Federal Government College, Nise, Anambra; Royal Institute of Health Technology, Ifo, Ogun state; Akpugo-Eze High School, Oji-River, Enugu; Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa; and Jubilee Secondary School, Ore, Ondo state, among others.
“While commending the officers and men of the Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services of the Agency for the diligent prosecution of Uwazuoke and Agbo cases, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) said the success rate of cases prosecuted by the agency has shown that there’s no escape route for those involved in the illicit trade of drug trafficking.
“He equally applauded those of MMIA, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Edo, Adamawa and Bayelsa Commands as well as their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their drug supply and drug demand reduction activities.”
-
News3 years agoNollywood Actress Nkechi Blessing speaks on plastic surgery, big butts
-
Entertainment2 years agoDJ Dimple Nipple dropped by longtime boyfriend after claiming D’Prince allegedly demanded sex for roles
-
News3 years agoPlus size rocks: Ghanaian plus size dancer who can’t travel by air because of her size
-
Privacy3 years agoSelf-imposed Oba vacates ‘palace’ after warnings by community
-
Sports2 years agoMeet Ashleigh Plumptre, the ‘Oyinbo’ member of Nigeria Super Falcons [Video]
-
Entertainment2 years agoIni Edo welcomes first child through surrogacy, speaks on past miscarriages
-
News3 years agoHow CCTV ’caught’ Baba Ijesha molesting minor
-
Opinion3 years agoLeave our community, Imobi orders self-imposed Oba