{"id":11355,"date":"2019-03-23T18:56:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T18:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=5425"},"modified":"2019-03-23T18:56:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T18:56:57","slug":"15million-fraud-in-america-nigerian-fugitive-ayodeji-olumide-ojo-central-bank-of-nigeria-staff-tracked-hiding-in-lagos-declared-wanted-by-united-states-justice-department-for-fraudulent-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/15million-fraud-in-america-nigerian-fugitive-ayodeji-olumide-ojo-central-bank-of-nigeria-staff-tracked-hiding-in-lagos-declared-wanted-by-united-states-justice-department-for-fraudulent-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"$15Million FRAUD in America: NIGERIAN Fugitive, AYODEJI OLUMIDE OJO, Central Bank of Nigeria staff tracked hiding in Lagos…Declared wanted by United States Justice Department for fraudulent internet and bank transactions *American Govt detains suspect’s friend Olufolajimi Abegunde for helping to cash a dubious cheque of $9,000 on behalf of wanted Nigerian * ‘I didn’t know Ayodeji Ojo is a criminal. He always visit America. On one occasion, he begged me to use my bank account to cash a cheque of $9,000 since he had no legal address known to the bank in America. He used my name to commit fraud. I have learnt my lesson never to help any Nigerian again’-cried Olufolajimi Abegunde inside detention’ BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICAN Foreign Bureau Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

$15Million\nFRAUD in America:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NIGERIAN\nFugitive, AYODEJI OLUMIDE OJO, Central Bank of Nigeria staff tracked\nhiding in Lagos<\/strong>…Declared\nwanted by United States Justice Department for <\/strong>fraudulent\ninternet and bank transactions<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*American\nGovt detains suspect’s friend Olufolajimi Abegunde for helping to\ncash a dubious cheque of $9,000 on behalf of wanted Nigerian<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* ‘I didn’t know Ayodeji Ojo is a\ncriminal. He always visit America. On one occasion, he begged me to\nuse my bank account to cash a cheque of $9,000 since he had no legal\naddress known to the bank in America. He used my name to commit\nfraud. I have learnt my lesson never to help any Nigerian\nagain’-cried Olufolajimi Abegunde inside detention’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n BY\nGEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICAN Foreign Bureau Chief<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE’S\nALLEGED TO BE WORKING AS A STAFF OF CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) in\nthe Lagos office. His name is AYODEJI OLUMIDE OJO described by United\nStates law enforcement agents as a ‘fraudster’ who has been declared\n‘wanted’ by the United States Justice Department for various\nfraudulent internet and bank transactions. Even though he visits\nAmerica regularly, his behavior could be dubbed as that of a Yahoo\nYahoo boy in Nigeria whose only means of survival is to dupe people,\ngovernment institutions and banking facilities across the world. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ojo,\nnow a fugitive is holed up in Nigeria, the alleged mastermind of the\ntravails of another young Nigerian, Olufolajimi Abegunde reportedly\nsuffering in the United States detention facility may be working for\na West African monetary institution with its headquarters in Lagos. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ojo,\namong others, is wanted by the United States Justice Department in\nconnection with several fraudulent internet and bank transactions in\ndefrauding U.S. firms and individuals to the tune of $15 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to NPR, in a recent\ntelephone conversation with him after being traced to Lagos, Ojo\ninitially feigned ignorance of the matter apart claiming that\ndropping his name in a case he knew nothing about amounts to mistaken\nidentity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lied by pleading: \u201cI\nam just hearing about this for the very first time. Can you please\nsend me the links to the stories so I can peruse them?\u201d But when\nseveral data and information relating to the case was sent to him as\nrequested, Mr Ojo opened up and explained that Abegunde who is\ncurrently suffering in U.S detention facility is his friend.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a matter of fact,\nAbegunde is my long-time friend and I used to stay in his house when\nI visited the United States. I had a cheque of $9000 to cash but the\nbank refused payment because I needed to open an account with a known\naddress, so I used his address,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ojo who is currently in Nigeria however said that he was ready\nto clear his name and possibly respond to any enquiry by United\nStates justice department if called upon to do so. He further said\nthat his lawyer has taken up his case and has graciously allowed his\nlawyer to also intervene in Abegunde\u2019s case when it will be\nmentioned again by March this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Abegunde, holed up in one of the detention centers in\nAmerica, in tears he expressed regret: \u201cI did not know that Ayodeji\nOjo is a criminal. He always visit America. On one occasion, he\nbegged me to use my bank account to cash a cheque of $9,000 since he\nhad no legal address known to the bank in America. I have learnt my\nlesson never to help any Nigerian again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be recalled that PRNigeria and its sister publication\nEconomic Confidential had in the last one year followed up the\ndevelopment by linking Abegunde\u2019s family with the Nigerian\nauthorities through series of publications prompting Abike\nDabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign\nAffairs and Diaspora to intervene. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In intervening, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa in a recent statement said the\nNigerian Consulate in Atlanta has stepped into the case of Mr\nOlufolajimi Abegunde arrested in U.S. since June 25, 2018. She noted\nthat her office had got more insight into the circumstances\nsurrounding the arrest of Abegunde, adding that the consulate had\nwritten a letter to U. S. Authority requesting consular access to\nAbegunde.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also posited that U. S. department of Justice in June 2018\narrested and charged eight people including Abegunde with cybercrime\nand business email compromise conspiracy. According to her the\nsuspects were alleged to have defrauded some U.S. Companies and\nindividuals to the tune of 15 million dollars.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, Abegunde claimed\ninnocence, saying his address was used by a friend of his, Mr Ayodeji\nOjo, who was apparently being previously charged with conspiracy to\ncommit fraud and is currently at large,\u201d Dibiri-Erewa said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said, however, when the Nigerian consulate in Atlanta\nbecame aware of his detention it wrote a letter to the West Tennessee\nDetention Facility in Mason, Tennessee where he was detained\nrequesting consular access. The consulate in Atlanta is awaiting\nresponse for consular access to Abegunde through the U.S. Department\nof State in Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She warned that the case of Abegunde underscored the need for\nNigerians to be careful in how they deal with people, even\nacquaintances, especially when it comes to financial matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbegunde\u2019s pleas that his\nfriend, Mr Ayodeji Olumide Ojo, used his address to open a bank\naccount in a U..S. bank, will hopefully be proved right in court.\nUnfortunately, Ojo , his friend, who has been previously indicted by\nthe U.S. Department of Justice and charged with conspiracy to commit\nfraud is currently at large. The consulate will undertake a consular\nvisit to Abegunde as soon as consular access is granted by the U.S\nauthorities,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$15Million FRAUD in America: NIGERIAN Fugitive, AYODEJI OLUMIDE OJO, Central Bank of Nigeria staff tracked hiding in Lagos…Declared wanted by United States Justice Department for fraudulent internet and bank transactions *American Govt detains suspect’s friend Olufolajimi Abegunde for helping to cash a dubious cheque of $9,000 on behalf of wanted Nigerian * ‘I didn’t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}