Olalekan Jacob Ponle, better known as Mr Woodberry, has pleaded guilty to internet fraud and agreed to forfeit $8 million in proceeds of wire fraud as well as luxury cars and watches to the foreign government.
Peoples Gazette reports that Woodberry, a flamboyant known associate of the now-imprisoned internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas, better known as Hushpuppi, recently in a plea declaration submitted at the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division on April 6, pleaded guilty to count one of the indictments.
According to his plea agreement, he must reimburse the seven companies he deceived with the $8 million he wrongfully obtained.
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The document containing Mr Ponle’s signed plea declaration read,
“Defendant understands that by pleading guilty, he will subject to forfeiture to the United States all right, title, and interest that he has in any property constituting or derived from proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offence”.
Woodberry was also asked to waive his rights to the luxury cars, and designer watches he had stashed in Dubai.
The high-end automobiles include Rolls Royce Cullinan with vehicle no J9153, Lamborghini Urus (N4973) and Mercedes-Benz G-class (G68816).
Other items seized are four Rolex watches, one Patek Philippe watch, three Audemars Piguet watches, three gold and diamond-studded earrings, and six gold neck chains.
Last year, he had forfeited 151.8 Bitcoin, roughly $6 million, to the American government, determined to recover all stolen monies from the Nigerian fraudster.
Woodberry was arrested in Dubai on 10th June 2020, alongside Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas, currently serving an 11-year sentence for a similar fraud charge.
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