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Hushpuppi pleads guilty to money laundering allegation, risks 20 years’ imprisonment

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HUSHPUPPI

 

Alleged international fraudster, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi, has agreed to plead guilty to charges including money laundering, wire fraud, felony amongst others brought against him by the United States District Court for the Central District Of California.

In a plea agreement document, Hushpuppi agreed to plead guilty as charged.

The document was signed by Hushpuppi; his lawyer, Loius Shapiro; Acting United States Attorney, Tracy Wilkison, amongst others.

It stated that Hushpuppi risks “20 years’ imprisonment; a 3-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offence”.

The document partly read, “Defendant (Hushpuppi) admits that defendant is, in fact, guilty of the offence to which defendant is agreeing to plead guilty.

“Beginning no later than on or about January 18, 2019, through on or about June 9, 2020, defendant knowingly combined, agreed, and conspired with multiple other persons (“coconspirators”) to conduct financial transactions into, within, and outside the United States involving property that represented the proceeds of wire fraud.

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“These coconspirators included the persons referred to in the Information as UICC 1 and UICC 2, as well as other coconspirators not referred to in the Information. The coconspirators targeted multiple victims and laundered and/or attempted to launder funds fraudulently obtained, and attempted to be fraudulently obtained, through bank cyber-heists,1 business email compromise frauds, and other fraud schemes.”

“Defendant understands that the statutory maximum sentence that the Court can impose for a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h), as charged in the Information, is: 20 years’ imprisonment; a 3-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offence, whichever is greatest; and a mandatory special assessment of $100,” the document noted.

It also noted that the parties (US Attorney Offices and Hushpuppi) agreed that “the agreement will be considered part of the record of the defendant’s guilt plea hearing as if the entire agreement had been read into the record of the proceeding”.

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The document, however, did not mention the date of the plea hearing.

The 37-year-old was arrested in Dubai in June 2020 alongside 12 other members of his crew.

The Dubai Police said it discovered that fraud amounting to 1.6 billion Dirham (N168 billion) had been committed by the gang.

No fewer than 1,926,400 people from different parts of the world were also said to have fallen victims to the suspects.

According to the police, 13 luxury cars, estimated at 35 million Dirham (N3.7 billion) were recovered from the house where they were arrested.

The Dubai Police later handed Abbas and his conspirators over to the FBI in the US and they had since been arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, among others.

 

 

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Cruel fate: Young lady dies after friends pushed her into pot of boiling pepper in Delta

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A Nigerian man, identified as Israel Joe, has narrated how his friend, Roseline, died after she was pushed into a boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her two female friends in Sapele, Delta State.

Joe stated that Roseline, a caterer, went on a trip with her friends to Sapele for a catering job where she tragically passed away on Saturday, April 13.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Joe said that before her untimely death, Roseline confided in him about two of her friends who were treating her coldly.

 

He urged the Nigeria Police to investigate and arrest the killers of Roseline, pointing out that no progress has been made in the case since her murder.

 

Joe’s post read, “She was pushed into a big boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her friend on Saturday, 13th April. She battled for about two weeks with her roasted/boiled body and finally ḍíęɗ last week Friday 26th April.

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“Nobody in the neighborhood in Otokutu knew Roseline had been allegedly kíIIed by these same friends. She was buried with no one to bid her goodbye and with no single bųríaI poster to honour her. Just two days in the morgue, the mørtųarƴ attendants demanded she be carried away to be buried.

 

“She traveled with them for a catering job in Sapele where they were speaking their local language with this Yoruba girl, Rozzy, not understanding their conversation.

“All of a sudden, she landed in a very big pot of boiling fresh pepper and tomatoes where they even still delayed in rescuing her. She was later rushed to Sage Hospital by Estate in Warri, where they managed the situation, but my friend couldn’t make it.”

 

Joe said he was pained that those responsible for her death were still walking free.

He added, “What pains me is that these two girls are still walking and gallivanting everywhere like nothing happened. I hate intimidation and oppression, especially against non-indigenous persons. The police must smoke them out so they can face the law. Na God dey help who nor get helper.

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“We shall fight for Rozzy. You can not just be kíIIęɗ like a chicken and bųřried like an aŋímąl. Nobody deserves such a hørribIe dęąth. We never got to meet Rose, only chatting on Facebook due to endless busy schedules only to see you, at the most disgusting sight at Sage Hospital, hoping for your recovery, but dęąțĥ stole you Justice shall prevail, including if you would be exhumed.”

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Alleged abuse of office: EFCC files additional proof of evidence against Emefiele

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed an additional proof of evidence against Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are facing trial on a 26-count charge before a Lagos high court.

 

The former CBN governor and Omoile pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The commission had presented two witnesses to testify against Emefiele in the trial.

 

At the resumed hearing on Friday, Olalekan Ojo, counsel to Emefiele, was expected to continue the cross-examination of John Ikechukwu Ayoh, the second prosecution witness.

But Ojo told the court that he just received the additional proof of evidence from the EFCC which was filed on Thursday.

The counsel said he needed to study the additional proof of evidence to be able to cross-examine the prosecution witness.

 

He also accused Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel, of attempting to engage in “trial by ambush” at the expense of the defendants.

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“My lord, there is a need to adjourn this case. We were just served these huge documents by the EFCC in court,” Ojo said.

 

“The prosecution keeps dumping documents on us at every sitting. This is trial by ambush.”

On his part, Adeyinka Kotoye, counsel to the second defendant, said he was served the additional proof of evidence five minutes after arriving in court.

 

Kotoye accused the EFCC of not being diligent in the prosecution of the case and attempting to ambush the defence team.

In response, the EFCC counsel said it is unfair to describe the service of processes by the prosecution as “ambush by trial”.

 

Oyedepo said the additional proof of evidence served by the commission was some of the documents retrieved from the phone of John Adetona, a former aide to Emefiele, who was listed as a witness.

 

Oyedepo said the documents were served in preparation of the testimony to be given by Adetona before the court.

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He added that Adetona was not meant to appear before the court today or on May 9.

“The witness (Adetona) whose device the documents were printed from has not given evidence before the court,” Oyedepo said.

 

“In preparation for his testimony which is not coming up today or May 9, the prosecution rather waiting for the defense to formally place a demand for the hard copies, the prosecution team printed the documents out.

“How does that amount to prosecutorial unfairness?”

 

Oyedepo prayed that the court should order the defence team to complete the cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.

 

He added that the new documents do not affect the continuation of cross-examination of the witness.

 

However, Emefiele’s counsel disagreed, saying that he needs to study the new documents and that there might be new information to help the cross-examination.

 

In his ruling, Rahman Oshodi, the presiding judge, agreed with the defendants’ counsel and adjourned the matter to May 9.

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Police identify officer who shot man dead at Lagos petrol station

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The Lagos State Police Command says it has identified a police officer who shot a man dead at a petrol station in Obalende area of the state on Wednesday.

 

The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed this in a post on his X handle on Tuesday.

He said that the officer whom he did not name is serving at Special Protection Unit (SPU), Base 17, Lion Building, Lagos. The PRO said investigation on the incident is still ongoing.

 

He wrote, “The person behind the shooting has been identified as a police officer serving at Special Protection Unit (SPU) Base 17, Lion Building, Lagos. Investigation is still ongoing and further findings will be made available.

 

“Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command is working with the family of the deceased to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.”

The person behind the shooting has been identified as a police officer serving at Special Protection Unit (SPU) Base 17, Lion Building, Lagos.

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Investigation is still ongoing and further findings will be made available. Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command is working with… https://t.co/apTMnaIbsm

— SP Benjamin Hundeyin (@BenHundeyin) May 2, 2024

 

The tragedy reportedly happened while motorists and residents in the area struggled to purchase fuel at petrol station belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The deceased alongside others who had been on a queue to purchase petrol was said to have resisted an attempt by the police officer to jump queue and buy fuel which resulted in ensuing fracas that led to the officer shooting the victim who eventually died.

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