Luxurious assets in Dubai that Hushpuppi’s ally , Woodberry, is to forfeit to US govt

Olalenkan Ponle, also known as Woodberry, has agreed to make a restitution of over $8 million to victims of his years-long extensive online scams. He also agreed to forfeit an astounding wealth of posh assets he owned in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to the United States government.

Woodberry agreed to make the restitution and surrender the luxury assets in a plea agreement he signed with the US government earlier this April.

The list of to-be-forfeited assets includes luxury cars, among which are Rolls Royce Cullinan and Lamborghini Urus. It also includes Rolex watches, gold bracelets, as well as gold and diamond studded rings and neck chains. He will also forfeit cash in Emirati dirhams, among other assets.

The judge of the US District Court for Northern Illinois, Gettleman, accepted the plea agreement in a ruling on 6 April. He then fixed 11 July for sentencing.

Well-known to be an ally of another Nigerian international fraudster, Ramon Abbas, alias Hushpuppi, who was jailed last year, Woodberry was accused of conspiring with other co-schemers to engage in an extensive business email compromise (BEC) scheme.

BEC activities involve scammers gaining unauthorised access into the email accounts of companies and businesses, and using them to trick others to pay money into certain accounts.

US prosecutors said Woodberry’s BEC schemes targeted a number of companies “which resulted in a fraudulent wire of approximately $188,191.50 to a bank account.”

He and Hushpuppi were arrested over their fraudulent online activities in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on 10 June 2020, and were immediately flown to the United States to face separate trials.

Hushpuppi, after initially pleading not guilty, changed his plea to guilty in April 2021, and was subsequently jailed 11 years by the US District Court for Central California in November 2022. The fraudster, widely known for his opulent lifestyle which he flaunted on social media, was also ordered to make $1.7 million restitution to the victims of his crimes.f

On his part, Woodberry delayed his guilty plea for over two years, as he only turned around to plead guilty earlier this April.

He pled guilty to one count of wire fraud involving about $188,000 which he fraudulently obtained from a US firm identified as Victim Company B in just one transaction in January 2019.

Restitution and forfeiture

But according to his plea agreement, he acknowledged owing a total of $8,038,214,.99 in restitution to seven victim companies in the amounts stated as follows:

Besides agreeing to make restitution, he also agreed to forfeit to the United States any property “constituting or derived from proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offence, and any property used, in any manner or part to commit the offence.”

Luxury cars, including Rolls Royce Cullinan and Lamborghini Urus, top the list of his Dubai assets that he agreed to forfeit to the US government.

The full list of the assets is as follows:

• One (1) Rolls Royce Cullinan, vehicle number J9153
• One (1) Lamborghini Urus, vehicle number N4973
• One (1) Mercedes-Benz G-Class AMG G55, vehicle number G68816
• Four (4) Rolex watches
• One (1) Patek Philippe watch
• Three (3) Audemars Piguet watches
• Three (8) gold and diamond-studded rings
• Five (5) gold bracelets and two (2) gold bracelet keys
• Six (6) gold neck chains
• One (1) gold and diamond-studded necklace
• One (1) small gold nugget
• Two (2) bank cards
• A monetary sum of 6,740.00 Emirati dirhams (approximately $1,835.00)
• A monetary sum of 243.00 African rands (approximately. $15.45)

Already, he has forfeited approximately 151.85713138 bitcoin (BTC). The bitcoin, said to be part of proceeds traceable to his offence, “was transferred to the government on 14 April 2022.”

The US government last year described Woodberry’s ally, Hushpuppi as “a prolific international fraudster who conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars through a series of online scams.”

The government said Hushpupi “flaunted his luxurious, crime-funded lifestyle on social media.”

His Instagram account, his flagship platform for flaunting his expensive lifestyle, has since been closed at the request of the US government.

Woodberry’s fraudulent scheme

Woodberry’s fraudulent activities that were known to the US government took place in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and other places, between January and September 2019.

Within the period, US prosecutors said, Woodberry defrauded “victim companies and other businesses by means of materially false and fraudulent pretences, representations, and promises.”

They said Woodberry and his co-schemers “were engaged in a business email compromise scheme targeting Victim Company B and other companies which resulted in a fraudulent wire of approximately $188,191.50 to a bank account.”

How fraudulent plot was hatched

Typical of how other companies were defrauded, the plea agreement submitted to the trial court revealed how Mr Ponle’s co-schemers defrauded Victim Company B by first gaining unauthorised access to the firm’s email account on or before 16 January 2019.

They hacked into the email account by fraudulently obtaining the account credentials, according to the prosecutors.

“Once access to this email account (“Victim Company B Email Account”) had been accomplished, the co-schemers changed certain security settings in the email account to hide their activity from the actual email account user,” prosecutors said in the plea agreement signed by Woodberry.

Swiftly, on 16 January 2019, an email was sent from the compromised Victim Company B’s email account to another email account of the company requesting a $188,191.50 payment be made to Victim Company B’s supplier.

The email, according to prosecutors, contained instructions that the money be sent via wire transfer to a bank account which was set up by Woodberry.

“PONLE knew that he had no right to the money and that the email was intended to defraud Victim Company B into paying money owed to the supplier to an account controlled by PONLE rather than the supplier.

“As a result of the email, approximately $188,191.50 was sent to 8208 account. PONLE acknowledges that the wire was processed through the Federal Reserve System and sent from an account held in New York, New York to an account ending in held in Nashville, Tennessee,” the plea agreement added.

The document went further to state that on 17 January 2019, Mr Ponle received a message from Individual B informing him that “The money is in”.

It added that Woodberry’s instruction, Individual B converted approximately $119,000 of the proceeds of the fraudulent wire transfer to Bitcoin. “Individual B then sent the Bitcoin to PONLE’s Bitcoin wallet.”

How fraudulent bank account was set up

Woodberry, according to the plea agreement, set up the fraudulent bank account with which he received proceeds of the fraud nine days before he requested payment through Victim Company B’s compromised email account on 16 January 2019.

The prosecutors say, specifically on 7 January 2019, Mr Ponle, using the alias “Mark Kain,” sent a message from outside the US to “Individual B” asking Individual B to open a bank account in the name of a Victim Company B supplier.

READ ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: Woodberry, Hushpuppi’s ally, pleads guilty to fraud

Woodberry was said to have told Individual B to “set up a separate business account just to receive the money.”

Acting at Mr Ponle’s direction, Individual B opened an account under the name “[Individual B] d/b/a [Victim Company B supplier]” and sent the account number, which ended in 8208, and routing number to him, the court filing stated.

On 10 January 2019, he sent a message to Individual B indicating that the wire to the Victim Company B supplier account would be “$188K”.