American Court Dismisses Fraud Case Against Woodberry

An American court has dismissed the case against Olalekan Ponle a.k.a Woodberry, a Nigerian accused of multi-million dollar wire fraud.

 Woodberry was arrested, along with Ramon Abbas (Hushpuppi) in the United Arab Emirates on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit.

A complaint against Woodberry stated that an unnamed Chicago company was tricked into sending wire transfers amounting to t$15.2 million.

Companies that relocate to Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York, and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say.

According to reports from PREMIUM TIMES, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nabbed Woodberry through details accessed from his WhatsApp, iPhone, and Bitcoin transactions. He was extradited to the United States on July 2.

 

The 29-year-old was facing charges bordering on wire fraud conspiracy at a United States District Court in Illinois.

As a matter of fact, a report of the grand jury, a group of lawyers empowered to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct, indicted him.

The jury summed up the allegations against him to an eight-count charge of wire fraud, which violates section 1343 of the United States Codes.

 On Monday, the United States government filed a motion through its attorney, John R. Lausch, requesting that the case against Woodberry should be dismissed without partiality.

“Counsel for the government has spoken with counsel for the defendant and defendant’s

counsel has no objection to this motion.

Respectfully submitted,” Mr Lausch stated.

He said it is in pursuant with Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 48, which states that the government may, with leave of court, dismiss an indictment, information, or complaint.

Furthermore, the government may not dismiss the prosecution during the trial without the defendant’s consent.

A court order issued by Judge Robert W. Gettleman on Tuesday said the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint without prejudice was granted.

“Without objection the complaint against defendant Ponle is dismissed without prejudice. Motion presentment hearing set for 7/23/2020 is stricken,” Mr Gettleman ruled.

When a case is dismissed with prejudice, it is over and done with, once and for all, and can’t be brought back to court.

Nonetheless, when it is dismissed without prejudice, like in the case of Mr. Ponle, the dismissal is temporary as the prosecutor can refile the case within a certain period of time.

The probable causes of dismissal range from unavailability of sufficient evidence, an improper criminal complaint or charging document, to loss of evidence necessary to prove the defendant committed the crime.

While PREMIUM TIMES is yet to know the reason for the dismissal against Woodberry, there are numerous indications that the prosecutor will re-file a case against him.

Cuurently, he is still detained in prison at the time of this report.