The Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, has filed a case alleging
that Olalekan Jacob Ponle, who was arrested alongside Hushpuppi,
defrauded US firms of millions.
Police authorities had earlier
shared footage of how Hushpuppi and his 11 cronies were busted in a
special operation over cyber-fraud involving 1.9 million victims to the
tune of N168 billion.
Arrested on June 10, the suspects were said
to have been involved in crimes spanning money laundering, hacking,
impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.
Alongside
Hushpuppi, Ponle, who is better known as Woodbery, had been expelled
from the UAE to the US where he is to face charges of conspiracy to
commit fraud, one for which he risks 20 years jail term.
In an
affidavit filed on Woodbery’s case, the FBI said that part of the sum
from the scams, which he pulled between January and September 2019, had
been stashed away in a Bitcoin, BTC, wallet.
Bitcoin is a type of
virtual currency not issued by any government, bank, or firm but is
generated and controlled through computer software operating on a
decentralised peer-to-peer network.
While BTC transactions are
recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain, the identities of the individuals or
entities are not recorded on the public ledger, making the platform
partially anonymous.
FBI said Woodbery staged business email
compromise, BEC, schemes targeting accounts through computer intrusion
techniques to cause the unauthorised transfer of funds from victim
companies.
Among these are schemes that caused a Chicago-based
company to lose $2,300,000 while another firm was defrauded into
transferring a total of $15,268,000, part of which was stashed away in
BTC wallet.
The affidavit read: “Preliminary blockchain analysis
indicates that Ponle received at least 1,494.71506296 bitcoin related to
these BEC schemes, valued at approximately $6,599,499.98.
“These
schemes resulted in attempted and actual losses to victim companies in
the tens of millions. Ponle directed money mules in the US to open bank
accounts in the names of victim companies.
“Proceeds from BEC
schemes, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of
dollars, were then wired by unwitting employees to the bank accounts
opened by Ponle’s mules.
“Ponle then instructed the mules to
convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and to send the proceeds of the BEC
schemes to a bitcoin wallet that he owned and operated.”
Woodbery is expected to appear in court on July 9, for hearing on his detention.
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