International

3 Nigerians jailed in US for multi-million dollar fraud

Published

9 months ago

August 31, 2023

3 Nigerians jailed in US for multi-million dollar fraud

Three Nigerian men who preyed on the elderly and vulnerable in an international multi-million-dollar inheritance scam have been jailed for more than 21 years after they were extradited to the United States.

The men, all in their forties, lived across South London and committed the fraud by sending unexpected personalised letters to elderly victims in the United States, London News Online reports.

The letters falsely claimed that the sender was a representative of a bank in Spain and that the recipient was entitled to receive a multi-million-dollar inheritance left by a family member who had died years before in Portugal.

Victims were then persuaded to pay charges and costs to release the fake assets.

Thousands of victims, mostly in the United States, were targeted and the National Crime Agency (NCA) said fraud worth millions of dollars has already been identified, South London Press Reports.

Jonathan Iheanyichukwu Abraham, 44, Emmanuel Samuel, 44, and Jerry Chucks Ozor, 43, were arrested in an unspecified location in South London by NCA officers in April 2022.

Between them, the men will have to pay back more than $20 million (£15.7 million) in restitution orders – an order directing an offender to pay back victims for some or all of the money taken.

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All three men were sentenced at a court in Miami, United States.

Abraham, of Cumberland Place, Hither Green, was sentenced to seven years and six months, Samuel, of Longhurst Road, Croydon, was jailed for six years and 10 months, while Ozor, Wadhurst Court, Penge, was jailed for seven years and three months.

The NCA’s Complex Financial Crime Team worked with US partners, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office, to secure their extraditions earlier this year.

Further suspects with a role in the fraud were arrested by Spanish authorities in Madrid, while linked enforcement activity also took place in Portugal.

Two defendants were arrested in Spain and extradited from there. Both pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in October.

Gary Cathcart, head of financial investigation at the NCA, said: “This was a transnational, high-harm fraud, where a dispersed network of ruthless criminals worked together to identify and target victims, inflicting life-changing damage to vulnerable people.

“International cooperation is essential to tackle such criminals; by working with our partners we can disrupt fraud and better protect the public.”

A spokesman for the NCA said: “Millions of people are targeted by scam messages, letters or phone calls like this every year.

“So if something seems suspicious or unexpected, such as requests for money or information, contact the organisation directly to check.

“Use contact details from their official website, not those given in the message, letter, email or a telephone call.”

International

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

Published

9 mins ago

May 19, 2024

Trends Admin

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an plane crash on Sunday.

The incident happened while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.

“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.

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It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter.

The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.

“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

International

Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters

Published

44 mins ago

May 19, 2024

Trends Admin

Joe Biden

Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters

Joe Biden is likely to be greeted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during his speech at the former university of Martin Luther King Jr in the United States president’s latest bid to attract Black voters.

Biden’s graduation speech on Sunday at Morehouse College in Atlanta in the election battleground state of Georgia is aimed at encouraging Black and young voters to help him win later this year against former President Donald Trump.

Those were two groups that helped him win the presidency in 2020, but have been increasingly dissatisfied with him due to the handling of the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians so far, mostly women and children.

The protests at Morehouse, a historically Black college, come after students called on the school to cancel Biden’s speech over his support for Israel despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The White House last week sent a senior official to meet students and faculty members at Morehouse to discuss the objections to Biden’s speech, according to US broadcaster NBC News.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said Biden sought to use the speech as “an opportunity to lift up and to give an important message to our future leaders”.

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Bernice King, the civil icon’s daughter, told Bloomberg in an interview last week that Black voters are “very disgruntled right now with the president” and that Biden risks losing a considerable share of their votes.

The civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had said Biden should not speak at Morehouse.

“His team should have made the decision that this is not the right time to take the spotlight from Morehouse students to the president and his bad policy on Gaza,” CAIR’s Edward Ahmed Mitchell said.

The controversy over the Morehouse speech is coming after weeks of major protests at US universities, including the Atlanta college, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel.

Biden said “order must prevail” on campuses, and police have made thousands of arrests across the US while attacking student encampments.

Protesters were arrested during a violent police crackdown in New York’s Brooklyn on Saturday, while hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the arming of Israel by the US.

The protests, which have spread globally, are continuing amid the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, along with a deadly incursion into Jabalia in the north.

Meanwhile, Israel is allowing very little aid into the enclave, and the US is proceeding with a much-criticised plan to deliver humanitarian assistance via a temporary floating pier.

Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

International

Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russia attack

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russia attack

Nearly 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region since a ground attack launched by Russian forces on May 10, its governor said Saturday.

The assault may only be the first wave of a wider offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP.

Over a week after its launch, “a total of 9,907 people have been evacuated,” governor Oleg Synegubov said.

They were fleeing Russian soldiers who managed to advance between five to 10 kilometres (three to six miles) along the northeastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian forces.

Synegubov said Ukraine’s armed forces had repelled two attempts to break through defences overnight.

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The situation was “under control” with “defenders in certain areas conducting assault… and combing operations.”

Moscow has been attacking several settlements including Vovchansk, just five kilometres from the border.

“In the area of the city of Vovchansk, Ukrainian troops are reinforcing their defence,” Synegubov said.

There are about 100 people left in the city where “heavy fighting” is taking place, he added later.

Russian forces have taken 278 square kilometres (107 square miles) between May 9 and 15, their biggest gains since the end of 2022, AFP calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russia’s offensive “could consist in several waves. There was the first wave” in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky told AFP journalists.

Zelensky played down Russia’s gains in the offensive but added: “We have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory. Not vice versa. And that’s still their advantage.”

Speaking about the offensive during a visit to China on Friday, President Vladimir Putin said it was a response to Ukraine shelling Russian border regions.