A United States district court has sentenced Olalekan Ponle,
better known as Woodberry, to eight years and three months in prison for
multimillion-dollar fraud.
Woodberry is an ally of Ramon Abbas, best known as
Hushpuppi, another Nigerian who was jailed for internet fraud in November 2022.
On June 10, 2020, Hushpuppi and Woodberry were arrested in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for extensive international online fraud.
They were then transported to the US for separate trials.
Although Hushpuppi initially denied all charges, he later
changed his plea and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.
Similarly, Woodberry, accused of defrauding a US company of
about $188,000, maintained his innocence for over two years.
However, he reversed course and entered a guilty plea to one
count of wire fraud at a change of plea hearing in April, at the US District
Court for Northern Illinois.
Robert Gettleman, the judge, accepted the defendant’s change
of plea in a ruling delivered on April 6.
Consequently, the defendant was convicted on one out of
eight counts following his plea bargain.
The judge referred the case to the probation department for
a pre-sentence investigation and report, which would guide his decision on the
appropriate sentence to impose.
100 MONTHS BEHIND
BARS
At the sentencing on Tuesday, the judge ordered Woodberry’s
imprisonment for 100 months.
“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,” Gettleman said.
Gettleman ordered Woodberry to submit himself to the U.S.
Marshal Service for onward transfer to the federal correctional institution in
Danbury, Connecticut, where his family members, especially his American
fiancée, would be allowed to visit him.
The judge also said Woodberry would be “surrendered to U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation immediately
following his incarceration”.
The convict is expected to pay about $8 million in
restitution to seven of his victims.
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