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Tag: Jail

  • U.S. court jails Nigerian for $2.5m romance scam (Photo)

    U.S. court jails Nigerian for $2.5m romance scam (Photo)

    A United States court in the Northern District of Oklahoma on Friday sentenced a Nigerian, Afeez Adebara, to four years in prison.

    Adebara bagged the jail term for managing a group of money launderers in an online romance scam that defrauded multiple victims, including elderly individuals across the U.S., and caused losses of at least $2.5 million.

    According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on November 3, 2020.

    Court documents and testimony revealed that between 2017 and November 2019, the 36-year-old and his co-conspirators knowingly concealed the proceeds of a romance scam operation by moving money between and among multiple bank accounts that were opened under various aliases, using fake passports and other fraudulent identification documents to obscure the source of the funds and the identities of his accomplices.

    He was said to have taken further steps to conceal the source of the funds, took a commission for himself, and sent the remainder of the funds back to the online romance scammers in Nigeria, including in the form of vehicles and vehicle parts.

    “Adebara coordinated with overseas co-conspirators who had assumed false identities on online dating websites and social media platforms to defraud victims,” said the statement.
    “Adebara opened multiple accounts using fraudulent identities, then provided the account and routing numbers to the overseas co-conspirators. The overseas co-conspirators told victims that they were U.S. residents working or traveling abroad.

    “As the online relationships continued, the overseas co-conspirators requested increasingly larger sums of money, with the claimed purpose that the funds were needed to complete business projects or for them to return to the United States.

    “The victims were directed by the overseas co-conspirators to send funds to certain bank accounts, with an assurance that the money would purportedly be allocated as needed.”

    Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Clinton J. Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and Special Agent in Charge Melissa Godbold of the FBI-Oklahoma City Field Office made the announcement.

    FBI’s Field Office in Oklahoma City conducted the investigation with assistance from the agency’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York Field Offices.

    Trial Attorneys Babasijibomi Moore of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Nassar of the Northern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case.

    “This case is part of an ongoing national effort by the Department of Justice to address online fraud schemes, including those based out of Nigeria, that target U.S. citizens and residents,” the statement added.

  • Female Micro Finance Bank Managing Director to spend five years in jail for fraud

    Female Micro Finance Bank Managing Director to spend five years in jail for fraud

    Justice M.M. Abubakar of Bauchi State High Court, Bauchi on August 11, 2021 convicted and sentenced Sarita Aliyu Bello, Managing Director of Workman Microfinance Bank, Bauchi, to five years imprisonment on a two-count charge bordering on misappropriation and forgery brought against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    The offence is contrary to Section 308 and 363 and punishable under Section 309 and 364 of the Penal Code Law.

    Bello was said to have sometime in 2020 as the Managing Director of the Microfinance Bank misappropriated the sum of N4,786,700.00.

    Using the password of the Head, Credit Unit of the bank, she created fictitious names, generated fraudulent loan requests, approved and paid the same to herself.

    When confronted with evidence of her crime, she pleaded guilty to the charges brought against her and was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

    The defendant was ordered by the court to pay the sum of N3,786,700 to the bank through the EFCC.

  • Jail decongestion: Aregbesola begs governors to sign death warrants of 3,008 inmates

    Jail decongestion: Aregbesola begs governors to sign death warrants of 3,008 inmates

    The Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has asked state governors to sign the death warrant of 3,008 inmates on death row at custodial facilities across the country as part of decongestion strategies.

    Aregbesola said this in Osogbo, Osun State on Friday while inaugurating the newly constructed headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS in the State.

    He lamented that jail congestion is the major headache of the Service, saying that the entire national custodial facilities with a maximum capacity for 57,278 inmates currently has a total population of 68,747 inmates, made up of 67,422 males and 1,325 females.

    He also noted that 50,992 inmates, representing 74 per cent of the total population of inmates in the nation’s custodial centres were awaiting trial inmates while only 17,755 inmates which is a mere 26 per cent were the actual convicts.

    Aregbesola said: “There are presently 3,008 condemned criminals waiting for their date with the executioners in our meagre custodial facilities. This consists of 2,952 males and 56 females.

    “In cases where an appeal has been exhausted and the convicts are not mounting any challenge to their conviction, the state should go ahead, to do the needful and bring closure to their cases.”

    Aregbesola, however, said the state governors could, in the alternative, set some of the condemned inmates free on compassionate ground, especially those who have grown old on account of the long time they have been in custody and those that are terminally ill.

    He added that those that have been reformed and demonstrated exceptionally good behaviour could also be released or commute their sentences to life or specific terms in jail.

    He said all these could be done by putting in place a system of amnesty and prerogative of mercy that would review all cases of convicts on death row periodically.

    He said more than 5,000 inmates were set free during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He said the federal government was building a 3,000 high-capacity custodial centre in Kano and Rivers States as well as Abuja.

    He said this would be extended to the six geo-political zones in the country and that it would ease congestion considerably and enhance the capacity to manage the facilities for corrections.

  • Photos: Ex-lawmaker, Farouk Lawal being led to prison after bagging seven-year jail term

    Photos: Ex-lawmaker, Farouk Lawal being led to prison after bagging seven-year jail term

    It was an unexpected end for Farouk Lawan on Tuesday when he appeared before Justice Angela Otaluka of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    Lawan, a former chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy, was accused of soliciting a $3 million bribe from Femi Otedola while probing the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.

    The bribe was to remove Otedola’s then company Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the list of oil companies allegedly involved in the scam.

    Although the former lawmaker had been walking freely while awaiting the court to determine his fate in the bribery charges filed against him, he is expected to spend the night in jail after he was found guilty of the counts.

    In the first count, he was said to have corruptly asked Otedola for a bribe of $3 million as an inducement to remove the name of his company from the report of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Monitoring of fuel subsidy regime.

    Count two also stated that Lawn collected the sum of $500,000 as a bribe to exonerate Zelon Petroleum and Gas from the fuel subsidy probe report.

    Following a long journey to justice for Lawan who has been standing trial since 2013, Justice Otaluka finally sentenced him to seven years in prison.

    He was found guilty of counts one, two, and three which bothered on corruptly asking for bribe and obtaining same from Otedola.

    The presiding judge stated that the evidence listed and submitted before the court by the prosecution counsel remained unshaken during cross-examination.

    She added that the conduct, responses, and submissions of the defendant and witnesses established the charge in the first count, while the defendant demanded a balance after receiving the first and second tranche of the payment.

  • Empire star Bryshere Gray sentenced to jail for domestic violence

    Empire star Bryshere Gray sentenced to jail for domestic violence

    Popular American actor, Bryshere Gray, who interpreted the role of Hakeem Lyon in Fox’s Empire series, has been said to have entered a guilty plea in his domestic violence case.

    As part of his plea agreement, per the latest report, Gray will be mandated to spend a short-term period in jail.

    Complex.com gathered that Gray pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault. He has also been sentenced to spend 10 days in county jail, in addition to being required to participate in a probation program for three years.

    Additionally, Gray is said to have been ordered to pay restitution and enrol in a domestic violence offender treatment program. Other related charges, according to court records viewed by Complex, were dismissed.

    In July 2020, a regional ABC outlet reported that Gray had been arrested in Goodyear, Arizona, in connection with a domestic violence incident.

    Police said at the time that they had first responded to a Circle K convenience store in the area around 10:15 p.m. after receiving a 911 call alerting them of a woman who had been assaulted.

    The victim, later confirmed to have been Gray’s wife, had flagged down a citizen for help after she said she had been assaulted at home for “hours” by Gray.

    Initially, Gray refused to exit his home when officers arrived. SWAT and Crisis Negotiations officials were then dispersed to the home, where Gray later surrendered to authorities early the following morning.

    He was then taken into custody and booked on domestic violence charges.

  • Officials, inmates give different reasons for attempted jail break foiled in Kano prison facility

    Officials, inmates give different reasons for attempted jail break foiled in Kano prison facility

    Officials and inmates were this morning embroiled in arguments over what caused the attempt by some inmates to foment trouble and escape from the Kano Central Prison, Kurmawa, which was foiled yesterday evening.

    The incident occurred, TNG gathered, when some “condemned inmates” numbering about 150 staged a protest that officials should allow them to consume illicit drugs (marijuana) and use other items such as telephone handsets smuggled into the facility by yet to be identified persons.

    Other sources, however, claimed that the inmates were protesting poor quality of food they were served for iftar (Muslim breaking of fast), despite a befitting arrangement allegedly put in place by a popular philantropist.

    Reacting on the incident, the Public Relations Officer, Kano State Correctional Centre, DSC Musbahu Lawal Kofar Nasarawa, said the mayhem was not as a result of the food but the inmates want officials to allow them to consume illicit drugs (marijuana) and use telephone handsets smuggled into the facility by yet to be identified persons.

    Musbahu said the Command’s Controller, Suleiman T. Suleiman has set up a committee to investigate how the illicit items (wee-wee and handset) were smuggled into the facility. According to him, “was it through the food they bring into the facility that the items were smuggled into the facility or how? So the Committee were to investigate who and how.

    Whether it’s those who bring in food or the staffs who smuggle in the illicit items. “So they stage a protest that the items be returned to them which is violates the law. “But as we speak, normalcy has since returned back in the facility,” Musbahu stated.

    Meanwhile, it was gathered that it took the intervention of security personnel to foil the jail break and restore normalcy in the facility.

  • Businesswoman bags 2 months imprisonment for breach of trust

    Businesswoman bags 2 months imprisonment for breach of trust

    A Shari’a Court in Rigasa, Kaduna, on Tuesday, sentenced a businesswoman, Hadiza Rilwanu, to two months in the correctional facility for fraudulently obtaining 25 pieces of Ankara fabrics and five bedsheets.

    The judge, Malam Salisu Abubakar Tureta, convicted Rilwanu after she pleaded guilty to the two count charge of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust.

    Tureta, however, granted Rilwanu an option of N5, 000 fine and ordered her to pay the nominal complainant, Hafsat Shehu, N65, 800 as restitution.

    The Prosecutor, Insp. Sambo Maigari, had earlier told the court that the convict had collected 25 pieces of Ankara fabrics and five bed sheets worth N65, 800 from the nominal complainant.
    “She promised to pay the money after two weeks, but failed to do so, no money, no goods, a situation which made the nominal complainant to report the matter to the Rigasa police division,” he said.
    The offence, the prosecutor said, contravened sections 117, 159 and 169 of Shari’a Criminal Procedure Code

  • Nigerian Imam to spend 10 years in jail for defiling 12-year-old Ghanaian girl inside Mosque

    Nigerian Imam to spend 10 years in jail for defiling 12-year-old Ghanaian girl inside Mosque

    Anon-governmental organization (NGO), End Modern Slavery of Engage Now Africa (ENA) has helped to secure justice for a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly defiled by an Imam at Mameng, a village at Kwahyia in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

    Justice Effia Addison sentenced the Imam, named Ishmaila Salam, a Nigerian, to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour due to efforts made by ENA team to make sure justice is served for the victim.

    The complainant, Kwame Abu, father of the victim, accused the Imam, an Islamic preacher and a teacher at Masjid Ali Dawood Abu Zahriya in Kwahyia, a village near Suhum, of defiling her daughter in 2020 when she started attending Arabic studies at the said mosque.

    Along the line, the victim’s mother saw some ungodly play between the victim and the accused person.

    The victim’s mother warned the accused person to cease playing with the victim, citinewsroom.com a news site based in Ghana reports.

    Early this year, the victim’s mother observed some changes in the victim’s habit.

    It was gathered that the accused person had been having sexual intercourse with her in the said mosque after their studies. The victim narrated how the accused used to have sexual intercourse with her in the mosque.

  • American rapper, Bobby Shmurda released from prison after 6 years

    American rapper, Bobby Shmurda released from prison after 6 years

    American rapper Bobby Shmurda has been released from prison, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has confirmed.

    TMZ reported that the “Hot Ni***” rapper was released from the Clinton Correctional Facility just before 8:30 local time on Tuesday morning.

    In a statement, NYS DOCCS said, “At approximately 8:30 this morning, Ackquille Pollard was conditionally released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Mr. Pollard will be under community supervision in Kings County until he completes his sentence on February 23, 2026.”

    Bobby Shmurda, known for his viral 2014 hit “Hot N—a,” was originally scheduled to be released in December 2021; as the New York Times reported in January, he was made eligible for conditional early release on parole thanks to good behaviour during his term.

    The Migos rapper recently shared his plans to pick Bobby up from prison during an interview with Billboard. “I’m going to get my guy,” he said. “I’m personally gonna go pick up Bobby Shmurda. I’m bout to go get him. I’m gonna let him show you how I’m gonna pick him up, yessir.”

    As promised, the “Workin Me” rapper — whose group formerly collaborated with Shmurda on a Shmigo mixtape — was there to witness the Brooklyn rapper walk out of prison. His present to the “Bobby Bitch” star: a private jet in which he could make his trek home.

    “Did six and didn’t switch. Welcome home @realbobbyshmurdags9,” Quavo wrote on Instagram alongside video of Shmurda exiting the private jet.

  • Popular Lagos pastor, Ogundipe sentenced to jail for unlawful conversion, stealing N14m, £12,000

    Popular Lagos pastor, Ogundipe sentenced to jail for unlawful conversion, stealing N14m, £12,000

    A popular televangelist and the head Genesis Parish of the Celestial Church of Christ, Alagbado, Lagos, Isreal Ogundipe, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court for unlawfully converting a woman’s property and stealing.

    Ogundipe, who has been on trial since 2011, was charged with seven-counts of obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretenses, unlawful conversion of property and forgery.

    Delivering the judgement in the matter Thursday, Justice Olabisi Akinlade found Ogundipe guilty of two out of the seven count charge brought against him by the state and sentenced him to one year imprisonment on each of the count.

    He would however spend one year in prison as the sentence will run concurrently.

    The court found the prophet not guilty of five-counts of stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretenses, giving false information to a public officer forgery.

    Justice Akinlade ordered the convict to make restitution of N11million to the complainant, a London-based architect, Mrs. Oladele Williams-Oni on counts two and four.

    Lead prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Rotimi Odutola, thanked the court for ”a well-considered judgment.”

    According to the prosecution, Ogundipe committed between August 30, 2002 and 2005.

    He was alleged to have fraudulently obtained N14million and £12,000 in several tranches from the complainant.

    The convict was also said to have between August 30, 2002 and December 2003, at No. 32, Bello St., Ladipo Estate, Shogunle, Lagos allegedly collected N2.9million from Williams-Oni to purchase an uncompleted building for her but fraudulently converted the money to his own use.

    The prosecution said that between March and December 2003 at Commint Bereau De Change, Broad Street, Lagos, the convict allegedly stole 12,000 British pounds from the complainant which was meant for the purchase of four plots of land for building a mosque.

    He is alleged to have stolen N8.5million between October 2002 and March 2003 from Williams-Oni for the purchase of landed properties in Lagos,” Odutola said.

    The prosecution also said that on diverse days between 2002 and 2003 he had received N2.6million from the complainant by falsely representing to her that he is man of God and that the money is to be used for his church.

    The convict was also alleged to have forged a Nigerian International Passport which carried his photo in the name Sanyaolu Babatunde Solomon at the Passport Office located at Oba Akinjobi St., Ikeja, Lagos,” Odutola said.

    According to the prosecution, the offences contravenes Sections 390(9), 419 and 467(1)(b) of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos 2003.