{"id":5741,"date":"2019-09-02T01:43:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T01:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=5741"},"modified":"2019-09-02T01:43:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T01:43:22","slug":"black-axe-money-laundering-scam-nigerias-notorious-cult-leader-augustus-bemigho-eyeoyibo-arrested-facing-court-trial-in-london-for-receiving-one-million-pounds-three-nigerian-siblings-residen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/black-axe-money-laundering-scam-nigerias-notorious-cult-leader-augustus-bemigho-eyeoyibo-arrested-facing-court-trial-in-london-for-receiving-one-million-pounds-three-nigerian-siblings-residen\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK AxE MONEY LAUNDERING SCAM: NIGERIA’S Notorious Cult Leader, AUGUSTUS BEMIGHO-EYEOYIBO Arrested, Facing Court Trial in London for Receiving One Million Pounds …Three Nigerian siblings resident in Greenwich, London behind scam sentenced to 16 years Jail Term *Blood brothers set for extradition proceedings concerning advance fee frauds in Greece * Evidence showed brothers had been actively involved for a number of years in a conspiracy to launder stolen money using phone and email scams connected to Delta state born cult leader * \u201cWe were able to show the Nakpodias were talking to Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo, the leader of Black Axe, based on conversations found on their devices. They talked about the amounts, and what to do with the funds after they arrived, including how much to keep for themselves\u201d- Philip Slough for Crown Prosecution Service BY CHINUA EBERE\/CRIME REPORTER, LONDON & GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BLACK\nAxE\nMONEY\nLAUNDERING SCAM:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NIGERIA’S\nNotorious Cult Leader, AUGUSTUS BEMIGHO-EYEOYIBO Arrested, Facing\nCourt Trial in London for Receiving One Million Pounds <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…Three\nNigerian siblings resident in Greenwich, London behind scam sentenced\nto 16 years Jail Term<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Blood\nbrothers set for extradition\nproceedings concerning advance fee frauds in Greece<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nEvidence showed brothers had\nbeen actively involved for a number of years in a conspiracy to\nlaunder stolen money using phone and email scams\nconnected to Delta state born cult leader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n\u201cWe\nwere able to show the Nakpodias were talking to Augustus\nBemigho-Eyeoyibo, the leader of Black Axe, based on conversations\nfound on their devices. They talked about the amounts, and what to do\nwith the funds after they arrived, including how much to keep for\nthemselves\u201d- Philip Slough for Crown Prosecution Service<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\nCHINUA EBERE\/CRIME REPORTER, LONDON & GEORGE ELIJAH\nOTUMU\/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE\nIS ONE OF NIGERIA’S MOST WANTED NOTORIOUS LEADERS OF BLACK Axe\nconfraternity. He is from Warri North local government in Delta\nState. AUGUSTUS BEMIGHO-EYEOYIBO, leader of this cult group had been\narrested for receiving the sum of One Million Pounds, known to have\nbeen proceeds of money laundering facilitated by three siblings of\nhis in-laws: Okemiorukaye Nakpodia (56years), Esther Nakpodia (35)\nand Unuakpotovo Nakpodia, 46 years. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nthree\nsiblings who were working directly for the leader of a notorious\nNigerian crime gang have been convicted of laundering nearly \u00a31m for\nthe Black Axe organised crime syndicate through UK bank accounts.Okemiorukaye\nwas found guilty of conspiracy to money launder at Woolwich Crown\nCourt recently. Esther and Unuakpotovo pleaded guilty at an earlier\nhearing.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\n(the siblings) laundered the proceeds of hundreds of frauds between\n2007 and 2015.Police\nidentified 174 suspicious transactions entering bank accounts. Money\nfrom a number of the victims of the original frauds ended up in the\ndefendants\u2019 bank accounts and was then laundered by the Nakpodias.The\nleader of the Black Axe, Augustus is the brother-in-law of the three\ndefendants. Black Axe is a banned organisation in Nigeria and has\nbeen linked to decades of murders, rapes, extortion and drug dealing\nin Nigeria and across the world, with members allegedly swearing a\n\u2018blood oath\u2019 to join.Esther\nand Unuakpotovo are also subject to extradition proceedings\nconcerning advance fee frauds in Greece, to be held at Westminster\nMagistrates Court at a later date.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nSlough, for the CPS, said: \u201cWe were able to show the Nakpodias were\ntalking to Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo, the leader of Black Axe, based\non conversations found on their devices. They talked about the\namounts, and what to do with the funds after they arrived, including\nhow much to keep for themselves.This\nstrong evidence confirmed that the Nakpodias had been actively\ninvolved for a number of years in a conspiracy to launder money which\nhad been stolen by others using phone and email scams.\nThis\nprosecution will play a role in starving a dangerous criminal gang of\nfunds and we will seek to recover their proceeds of crime at a later\nhearing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nSlough, for the CPS, said: \u201cEsther Nakpodia claimed to have never\nheard of Black Axe, denying links to the organisation \u2013 this\ndespite the fact her sister has been married to the group\u2019s leader\nfor 14 years.\u201c<\/strong>Esther\ndenied knowing that Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo is involved in gang\nactivity, and said she believed he was a reputable business man. She\naccepted being in possession of \u00a328,000 when arrested – this was\nmoney withdrawn from her bank account and was taking it with her to\nNigeria to give to her sister and brother-in-law in person. A number\nof incriminating text messages were found on her mobile phone seized\nfrom her upon arrest, revealing her deep involvement in the\nlaundering of these funds.\u201c<\/strong>Unuakpotovo\nNakpodia admitted opening and controlling numerous bank accounts –\nbetween January 2007 and February 2015, she received over \u00a3700,000\nof suspicious payments from between 65-70 unconnected parties in 16\ndifferent countries. Unuakpotovo also denied being part of a\nconspiracy to money launder the proceeds of crime.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkemiorukaye\nNakpodia accepted all transactions relating to the bank accounts\nattributed to him \u2013 he received nearly \u00a350,000 of direct\nsuspicious payments from eight unconnected third parties in three\ndifferent countries. He claimed not know the source of these\ntransfers.\u201d\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nPhilip Slough is a lawyer for the Specialist Fraud Division of the\nCPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \n\tEsther\n\tNakpodia (DOB 21\/05\/1983) Charlton Church Lane, Greenwich<\/strong>\n\t<\/li>
  • \n\tOkemiorukaye\n\tNakpodia (DOB 23\/07\/1972) Merbury Close, Greenwich<\/strong>\n\t<\/li>
  • \n\tUnuakpotovo\n\tNakpodia (16\/06\/1962) Wellington Street, Greenwich<\/strong>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    BLACK AxE MONEY LAUNDERING SCAM: NIGERIA’S Notorious Cult Leader, AUGUSTUS BEMIGHO-EYEOYIBO Arrested, Facing Court Trial in London for Receiving One Million Pounds …Three Nigerian siblings resident in Greenwich, London behind scam sentenced to 16 years Jail Term *Blood brothers set for extradition proceedings concerning advance fee frauds in Greece * Evidence showed brothers had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5741","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=5741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}