The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI has added a Nigerian, Mr. Tobechukwu Enyinna Onwuhara, 30, to its list of ‘Most Wanted Fugitives.’
According to a report on America’s Most Wanted, the Bureau said ‘Tobechi Onwuhara is a criminal mastermind’ who in less than three years stole $44 million dollars from banks in the United States using sophisticated methods including stealing bank customer’s personal information, Home Equity Lines of Credit details and account numbers.
FBI agents say Onwuhara was born in Houston and sent to live with his wealthy Nigerian father, Prince Doris Onwuhara who the Bureau say is a ‘well-known con man who made a fortune from the notorious Nigerian 419 scheme’ before returning to the United States when he reached his teenage years in 1999.
Having settled in the southern state of Texas, he got a job with US lender, Capital One Financial Corporation where authorities believe he gained insider knowledge on how to work the US financial system.
His first brush with the law happened in April 2002 when he was arrested by Lewisville city police in Lewisville, Texas after police got a tipoff that he may be using stolen identification to steal money from credit card accounts. When police raided his apartment, they found stolen credit card account numbers, fake driver’s licenses and materials used to forge identification.
Same year in December in the western state of Seattle, FBI said ‘Onwuhara walked into a local bank and tried to max out the cash withdrawal limit on a stolen credit card’ but fled the bank when he sensed trouble. He was said to have jumped into a waiting car driven by a friend of his, Abel Nnabue and they led Seattle police on a high-speed chase but were eventually caught when they tried to flee on foot.
Both men were charged, convicted and sentenced to two years in a Seattle prison but spent only eight months of their sentence for good behaviour.
After their release, they relocated to Texas and went low for a while until sometime in 2005 when the real estate market was at an all time high and Home Equity Lines Of Credit loans became available. Though it was harder to steal from Home Equity Lines of Credit, Onwuhara and his co-conspirators found a way around it.
FBI say Onwuhara painstakingly researched home owners credit reports to see if they opened home lines of credit accounts and how much they had available. At this time in the real estate market, it was very common to find homeowners with $300, 000 - $ 400, 000 in home equity.
Onwuhara impersonated such homeowners after learning their passwords and home phone numbers through extensive research.
The Nigerian acquired multiple prepaid phone lines and wireless internet cards to prevent anyone from successfully tracing their numbers. He then also signed up to a spoofing service which allowed a home owner’s number appear on the bank representative’s caller ID when he called a bank to request a wire transfer from the account to a home owner’s regular checking account before the funds are eventually wired to accounts in Asia and then the monies would go to a Hawala in Africa.
‘Hawalas’ are funds transfer systems that are not regulated instead, they operate on trust. ‘Brokers or Hawalanders would take a cut and then transfer the money to an African Bank, eventually returning to a US bank,’ according to America’s Most Wanted.
Most of the funds returning to the United States came through accounts belonging to Precious Matthews or one of the other conspirators.
Investigators say Onwuhara made most of the calls himself but when an account belonged to a female, he would get his girlfriend, Precious Matthews to make the call while other co-conspirators would be delegated other duties including finding new home owners with equity in their homes.
According to FBI records, Onwuhara and his crew had stolen more than $20 million dollars before the bureau were notified of the scam and by the time the FBI penetrated their well-organized syndicate and learned their identity, they had stolen an additional $20 million dollars.
To learn their identity, the FBI contacted Verizon Wireless, a prepaid wireless company after it learned they were using prepaid internet services provided by the company to log into bank accounts and were able to obtain surveillance videos of three men paying for the service at one of the provider’s stores.
In the spring of 2008, the FBI got a break when they also found out that Onwuhara was using a spoofing service and they contacted the provider who made more than 1500 audio recordings available to them. As expected, most of the recordings were conversations between Onwuhara and various bank representatives, but unfortunately for Onwuhara someone from his crew had also used the phone to call a pharmacy pretending to be a doctor and ordered a prescription for Tobechi Onwuhara. This was a huge lead for the FBI. When they ran Onwuhara’s name, there was a match in their database where they found out he had been arrested before for bank fraud.
When they matched his photo with the surveillance videos obtained from the telecommunications company, they believed they had their man.
Gradually, they started their investigations and tried to learn the identity of his co-conspirators. This was when they discovered that Onwuhara had left Miami for Nigeria with a brief stopover in New York.
The FBI waited for Onwuhara and his travelling companions to return to the country and decided to stop him at the airport after he had rerouted his ticket several times.
The Bureau said they wanted him to believe he was being questioned as a possible terrorist and he fell for it by giving them information that eventually linked him to the fraud.
Before August 1, 2008, FBI agents already knew Onwuhara and his girlfriend, Matthews lived in their $5000 a month mansion near Miami in Florida. As they were making their way to a Florida casino with their crew on that day, agents and local police decided they had enough evidence to take them in. While they were effecting their arrest, agents realized that Onwuhara had entered the casino and believed Matthews sent a text message to him that they were being arrested and he managed to get away.
Authorities say they have not been able to track him down since.
FBI said before they took the gang down, Onwuhara would spend about $50, 000 a night in a strip club up to three times in a week and usually stayed at various five star hotels whenever he made his frequent travels.
Onwuhara according to the Bureau has stashed cash abroad and also shipped many luxury cars to Nigeria- all paid for in cash.
They believe he is hiding in either Canada; Miami, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; or New Jersey.
His co-conspirators have been sentenced to various jail terms:
Henry ‘Uche’ Obilo, 30, Miami: Sentenced to 88 months in prison.
Abel Nnabule, 34, Dallas: Sentenced to 54 months on Jan. 30, 2009.
Precious Matthews (Onwuhara’s girlfriend): Sentenced to 51 months on Feb. 13, 2009.
Brandy Anderson, 31, Dallas, Sentenced to two years of supervised probation and 40 days of community confinement on Feb. 20, 2009.
Ezenwa Onyedebelu, 21, Dallas, Sentenced to 37 months on Feb. 27, 2009.
Daniel Orjinta, 43, Nigeria: Sentenced to 42 months on March 06, 2009.
Paula Gipson, 34, Dallas, Sentenced to 15 months on September 04, 2009.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Landlord Sent To Kirikiri Over Illegal Eviction
A Lagos landlord, Nwachukwu Sunday Edemi, 49, has been sent to the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Apapa, Lagos by the Ejigbo Magistrate’s Court for allegedly evicting his tenant illegally.
He was remanded in prison custody because he could not meet the bail conditions after he was arraigned before the court for stealing properties worth millions of naira belonging to Mrs. Victoria Kate Ahunmunde, his tenant.
The landlord, whose house is located at 9, Kola Ogundeji Street, Idimu, Lagos was alleged to have broken into his tenant’s flat and threw out her properties and rented the house to another tenant.
His action was reported to the police and he was arrested and charged with illegal entry, stealing and breach of public peace.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the landlord carried out the illegal act when the woman travelled. The three-count charge is contrary to sections 390, 413, 411, 412, 440 and 451 of the Criminal Code, Cap,C.17, Vol.2, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and Magistrate M.B. Folami granted him bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties.
The matter has been adjourned till 21 April, 2010 while the accused was remanded in prison, pending when he will meet the bail conditions.
He was remanded in prison custody because he could not meet the bail conditions after he was arraigned before the court for stealing properties worth millions of naira belonging to Mrs. Victoria Kate Ahunmunde, his tenant.
The landlord, whose house is located at 9, Kola Ogundeji Street, Idimu, Lagos was alleged to have broken into his tenant’s flat and threw out her properties and rented the house to another tenant.
His action was reported to the police and he was arrested and charged with illegal entry, stealing and breach of public peace.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the landlord carried out the illegal act when the woman travelled. The three-count charge is contrary to sections 390, 413, 411, 412, 440 and 451 of the Criminal Code, Cap,C.17, Vol.2, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and Magistrate M.B. Folami granted him bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties.
The matter has been adjourned till 21 April, 2010 while the accused was remanded in prison, pending when he will meet the bail conditions.
We have Not Declared James Ibori Wanted – EFCC Source
I AM NOT ON THE RUN - IBORI.......... PHOTO: FORMER DELTA STATE GOVERNOR, CHIEF JAMES IBORI.
San Francisco, March 29, (THEWILL) – Former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori is not being sought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and has not been declared wanted officially or otherwise by the anti-graft agency, a top EFCC personnel told THEWILL in a conference call from Abuja on Monday night.
The source who asked not to be named said a Nigerian newspaper report that said the commission was seeking to interrogate Ibori on his involvement in an alleged use of 528 million units of Delta State government owned Oceanic Bank Plc shares as collateral to secure a loan for a private company with ties to him from Intercontinental Bank Plc, and subsequent disposal of the shares to offset the balance of the loan, was inaccurate.
Pressed further, the source acknowledged that the commission had received an initial petition on Ibori on the matter many months ago before another was filed some weeks ago, he said the commission was yet to conclude its investigations on the allegations hence could not have declared the former governor wanted.
"What I am telling you is the EFCC official position on the Ibori/Delta State shares petition. The newspaper report you mentioned is inaccurate. The commission has not invited Ibori for questioning, we have not written him any letter of invitation on the matter, if we had, you know I would tell you," the source said.
Further checks by THEWILL through sources close to the governor revealed that Ibori has been in Abuja since the weekend and up till the time of filing in this report today, overseeing his affairs from the nation’s capital. The EFCC is also headquartered in Abuja.
The former governor was highly criticized for his role in frustrating Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s ascension to the top of the Presidency. Ibori and Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva were arrowheads of the movement that worked in union with members of President Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet ‘cabal’ to ensure that Jonathan did not become Acting President. They were comfortable with maintaining the status quo until the ailing Yar’Adua resumed duties as President.
Recall the THEWILL broke the story that Ibori spearheaded the campaign to ensure that Yar’Adua was not removed from office on account of his ailment.
Ibori is known to be a major backer and financier of President Yar’Adua’s 2007 presidential campaign that eventually brought Yar’Adua to power.
There have been speculations that the Acting President may go after Ibori to punish him for his opposition. Our Presidency sources have consistently debunked talks that the Presidency may go after Ibori following his position. Pundits however believe Jonathan may use the latest allegation against Ibori as a political tool, to pay back Ibori.
THEWILL put a call through to the former governor on his cell phone to see if he had cutoff communication as claimed in the newspaper report. The governor was on the other end after a few seconds. We told him we were investigating a report on his alleged ‘disappearance’ and that he also cutoff communication following investigations by the EFCC into a petition against him by some Deltans including a former Minister of Information and PDP chieftain, Chief Edwin Clark.
"You called me and I am speaking to you now. Your number is even blocked and I took the call, please how have I cut off communication?," the former governor asked.
When asked to confirm his location, Ibori said, "I am still in Abuja."
Chief Ibori was a two-term governor of Delta State from 1999-2007 and was last quarter, acquitted in a highly contentious court ruling by a Federal High Court in Asaba, on multiple corruption and money laundering charges.
http://thewillnigeria.com/breaking/
San Francisco, March 29, (THEWILL) – Former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori is not being sought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and has not been declared wanted officially or otherwise by the anti-graft agency, a top EFCC personnel told THEWILL in a conference call from Abuja on Monday night.
The source who asked not to be named said a Nigerian newspaper report that said the commission was seeking to interrogate Ibori on his involvement in an alleged use of 528 million units of Delta State government owned Oceanic Bank Plc shares as collateral to secure a loan for a private company with ties to him from Intercontinental Bank Plc, and subsequent disposal of the shares to offset the balance of the loan, was inaccurate.
Pressed further, the source acknowledged that the commission had received an initial petition on Ibori on the matter many months ago before another was filed some weeks ago, he said the commission was yet to conclude its investigations on the allegations hence could not have declared the former governor wanted.
"What I am telling you is the EFCC official position on the Ibori/Delta State shares petition. The newspaper report you mentioned is inaccurate. The commission has not invited Ibori for questioning, we have not written him any letter of invitation on the matter, if we had, you know I would tell you," the source said.
Further checks by THEWILL through sources close to the governor revealed that Ibori has been in Abuja since the weekend and up till the time of filing in this report today, overseeing his affairs from the nation’s capital. The EFCC is also headquartered in Abuja.
The former governor was highly criticized for his role in frustrating Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s ascension to the top of the Presidency. Ibori and Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva were arrowheads of the movement that worked in union with members of President Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet ‘cabal’ to ensure that Jonathan did not become Acting President. They were comfortable with maintaining the status quo until the ailing Yar’Adua resumed duties as President.
Recall the THEWILL broke the story that Ibori spearheaded the campaign to ensure that Yar’Adua was not removed from office on account of his ailment.
Ibori is known to be a major backer and financier of President Yar’Adua’s 2007 presidential campaign that eventually brought Yar’Adua to power.
There have been speculations that the Acting President may go after Ibori to punish him for his opposition. Our Presidency sources have consistently debunked talks that the Presidency may go after Ibori following his position. Pundits however believe Jonathan may use the latest allegation against Ibori as a political tool, to pay back Ibori.
THEWILL put a call through to the former governor on his cell phone to see if he had cutoff communication as claimed in the newspaper report. The governor was on the other end after a few seconds. We told him we were investigating a report on his alleged ‘disappearance’ and that he also cutoff communication following investigations by the EFCC into a petition against him by some Deltans including a former Minister of Information and PDP chieftain, Chief Edwin Clark.
"You called me and I am speaking to you now. Your number is even blocked and I took the call, please how have I cut off communication?," the former governor asked.
When asked to confirm his location, Ibori said, "I am still in Abuja."
Chief Ibori was a two-term governor of Delta State from 1999-2007 and was last quarter, acquitted in a highly contentious court ruling by a Federal High Court in Asaba, on multiple corruption and money laundering charges.
http://thewillnigeria.com/breaking/
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