Last updated on July 15th, 2020 at 01:36 pm
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The Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, has filed a case claiming that Olalekan Jacob Ponle, an acompliance arrested alongside Hushpuppi, defrauded US firms of millions in dollars.
Dubai Police authorities had earlier shared videos of how Hushpuppi and his eleven allies busted in their residence in a special operation called “Fox Hunt 2”, recovering N168 billion alongside other properties.
Arrested on June 10, the suspects were charged for involving in crimes spanning money laundering, hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.
The duo, Hushpuppi and Woodbery had been extradited from the UAE to the US where they will face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, one for which Huspuppi risks 20 years jail term according to a court in Chicago.
Funds Loaded in Bitcoin Wallet:
In a recent afidavit filed on Woodbery’s case, the FBI claimed that part of the sum from the fraud, which he transfered between January and September 2019, had been stored in a Bitcoin, BTC, wallet.
Read Also: Crystal Blockchain Analytics Report Suggests that the Bitcoin Activity on Dark Web Increased by 65% in Q1 2020.
Bitcoin transactions are recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain, read in full here.
The identities of the individuals or entities involved in a Bitcoin transaction are not recorded on the public ledger. This makes the records partially anonymous but public. Identities can’t be tracked but are represented in alphanumberic strings.
But then FBI said Woodbery mounted business email compromise, BEC, schemes targeted at victim companies’ accounts. Unauthorised transfer of funds was possible through computer intrusion techniques.
The victim companies include a Chicago-based company defrauded of $2,300,000. Another firm was defrauded into transferring a total of $15,268,000, part of which was loaded in BTC wallet.
The affidavit read: “Preliminary blockchain analysis indicates that Ponle received at least 1,494.71506296 bitcoin related to these BEC schemes, valued at approximately $6,599,499.98.
“These schemes resulted in attempted and actual losses to victim companies in the tens of millions. Ponle directed money mules in the US to open bank accounts in the names of victim companies.
“Proceeds from BEC schemes, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, were then wired by unwitting employees to the bank accounts opened by Ponle’s mules.
“Ponle then instructed the mules to convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and to send the proceeds of the BEC schemes to a bitcoin wallet that he owned and operated.”
Ponle better known as Woodbery an accomplice of Hushpuppi is expected to appear in court on July 9, for hearing on his detention since arrest in June 10, 2020.
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