Woodberry bags 8-year jail term for $8m fraud in U.S.

Popular internet fraudster, Olalekan Jacob Ponle, well known as Woodberry, has been sentenced to eight-year and three-month imprisonment for $8 million fraud in the United States.

Woodberry, who is an associate of the now-imprisoned internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, had, in April 2023, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the United States.

He was however sentenced by Judge Robert Gettleman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

Gettleman said: “The defendant is hereby committed to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of 100 months as to count.”

According to the court documents, the judge also ordered Woodberry to present himself to the U.S. Marshal Service for transfer to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, where he would be allowed visits from his family members and his American fiancee.

The judge added that the convict will be “surrendered to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation immediately following his incarceration.”

The socialite, who was arrested alongside Hushpuppi in Dubai on June 10, 2020, had earlier forfeited luxury cars and watches to the government after he pleaded guilty to count one of the indictments in a plea declaration at the United States District Court in April 2023.

He was equally ordered to pay back the sum of $8 million he fraudulently received from the seven companies that he scammed.

Woodberry was also asked to waive his rights to the luxury cars, and designer watches he had stashed in Dubai.

The cars included Rolls Royce Cullinan with vehicle no J9153, Lamborghini Urus (N4973), and Mercedes-Benz G-class (G68816).

Other items seized were four Rolex watches, one Patek Philippe watch, three Audemars Piguet watches, three gold and diamond-studded earrings, and six gold neck chains.

Woodberry, who forfeited 151.8 Bitcoin to the U.S. government in 2022, was known for rocking and flaunting expensive designer wear and showing off his illicit wealth to his followers on Instagram.

Hushpuppi was sentenced to 11 years in prison for computer fraud in the United States in 2022.

The Star

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