BY Bolanle Olabimtan
Olalekan Ponle, better known as Woodberry, has pleaded guilty to a fraud charge at a United States (US) district court.
Woodberry is an ally of Ramon Abbas, best known as Hushpuppi, another Nigerian international fraudster, who was jailed 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.
Hushpuppi was also ordered to pay $1,732,841 (£1,516,182) in restitution to two of his fraud victims.
Similarly, Woodberry, accused of defrauding a US company of about $188,000, maintained his innocence for over two years.
However, PremiumTimes reports that 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.
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.
He gave the US government 60 days to curate a list of Woodberry’s victims and their full current contact information.
The list is to be given to the probation office and the courtroom deputy within 60 days to guide the court’s order for restitution to the victims.
“The list shall include any amounts subject to restitution. If the Government is not able to provide the full victim list 60 days before sentencing, they shall file a motion to request an extension of time to compile the information,” the judge added.
Sentencing has been fixed for July 11.
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