Another Nigerian Sentenced for Cyber Scam, also Committed Marriage Fraud to Stay in US

I promise this isn’t a blog just for Nigerian scammers we ‘welcomed’ to America even if it seems that way sometimes!

Maybe we have a special visa I didn’t know about to attract the best and brightest scammers in the world to ply their trade while living among us!

First thing I did after seeing the news from the US Justice Department about Nigerian national Olufolajimi Abegunde getting a six year sentence in the slammer (the taxpayers must now pay for!) was to see if there was a picture this time.

Well, what do you know there is!

Abegunde received an MBA from Texas A&M which gives us a clue that he came to the US on a student visa.

You will see below that he committed marriage fraud to stay—a common pathway for ‘new American’ wannabees.

The photo at right has been used widely around the world (not much US media coverage of his case), but Nigerian writers are promoting the propaganda that Abegunde was being racially profiled by the feds in Tennessee.

In January of this year, according to an African blogger, Abegunde is innocent and he was scapegoated by racist feds operating in racist Memphis, Tennessee:

Other updates to the saga also shows that a local judge in Memphis TN area, the city where he is being held, confirmed that Federal authorities around TN area act and prosecute based on racial bias.

Judge Fowlkes of Memphis TN confirmed this while trying a gun charge case.The case involved a white man who records say sold an undercover officer 100 ecstasy pills for $800, while his black partner stayed in the car with a gun.

Fowlkes asked why the white defendant wasn’t slapped with the same gun charge as the black defendant since they worked together. The gun charge carres an automatic 5 year sentence just for the black person.

The above case shows that Olufolajimi’s claims of racial mistreatment is valid and should be taken into account. His family wishes to draw the attention of current Presidential aspirants and other concerned Nigerians to look into this matter as Nigeria cannot continue to fold it’s arms while it’s citizens are mistreated on the basis of skin color.

Now have a look at the US Justice Department case against the pure-as-the-driven-snow Abegunde:

Nigerian Citizen Sentenced for Role in International Cyber-Fraud Scheme

Memphis, TN – A citizen of Nigeria residing in Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to 78 months in prison yesterday for his role in an international cyber fraud scheme….

[….]

Abegunde and Ramos-Alonso participated in a criminal organization in which members “spoofed” emails and created fake profiles on dating websites in order to fool victims into sending money to bogus bank accounts under the control of members of the conspiracy. The proceeds would be laundered and subsequently wired out of the United States to destinations including West Africa.

The organization as a whole is believed to have caused more than $10,000,000 in damage to United States citizens and businesses.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said: “Frauds perpetrated through the Internet cause significant financial harm to businesses and individuals in our District and throughout the United States. Because those committing Internet fraud involve foreign nationals and others who hide behind technology, the cases are difficult – but not impossible – to investigate. We will continue to deploy our resources to take on these difficult cases, and we are pleased to achieve justice for the victims in this case.”

Read the details about how the crooks set up their cyber crimes, but below we see how Abegunde used marriage fraud to stay in the US once he finished ‘studying’ at Texas A & M.  You can’t make this up!

The Justice Department continues…

In addition to his financial activities, Abegunde also engaged in a conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Abegunde was married during his studies at Texas A&M, but divorced his wife in 2016 to marry a U.S. service member through whom he could obtain immigration and health care benefits and also open new bank accounts.

He continued to live with his first wife in Atlanta while his U.S. service member wife was deployed to South Korea.

While incarcerated and awaiting trial in the Western District of Tennessee, Abegunde continued his conspiratorial activities, trying to convince his fake spouse, who has since filed for divorce, to refuse to testify against him.

Abegunde is contesting the divorce from his fake spouse.

Abegunde also engaged in witness tampering by sending a self-written Motion to Dismiss bearing his former attorney’s name and professional attestation. The evidence at trial established that Abegunde drafted and sent the motion, which his attorney expressly did not authorize, to his faux spouse in an effort to deceive her into not testifying against him.

Read it all here.

You wouldn’t know it if you just watch cable news and read your local paper, but there are many, many fraud schemes (perpetrated by foreign nationals)  busted every day by the Trump Administration.  The President should be bragging about the crooks and criminals he is getting off the streets.

At each rally he should showcase some of the best cases his Justice Department has prosecuted.

Be sure to see my tag below for Nigeria!

This African Immigration Fraudster Got Caught!

Editor:  As we work on getting this blog and Refugee Resettlement Watch hosted elsewhere there may be a glitch or two along the way.  Yesterday that happened with my update on the Kenyan Killer story, see here, where the link did not work.

Prince-Mark-Boley-FACEBOOK
Prince Mark Boley could get five years in the slammer!

Well, at least this Liberian didn’t get away with the all too common marriage scam which we have mentioned in  a couple of posts lately*** involving men who married, or attempted to marry Americans, in order to stay in the US after initially getting into the country on a visitor visa of some sort.
See how he was caught lying……
From Fox News,

Green card scam thwarted by ‘best sex ever’ text that arrived as immigration agent was reviewing phone, prosecutors say

 

A Liberian soccer player’s attempt to trick U.S. immigration authorities into giving him a green card backfired after an agent in Rhode Island viewing the phone of the woman claiming to be his wife saw an incoming message from another person thanking her for the “best sex ever,” prosecutors say.
Prince Mark Boley, 30, is now facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after being convicted by a federal court this week of lying to immigration officials and providing false information on immigration documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Rhode Island announced.
The steamy text that sparked an investigation into his behavior came in June 2017, when authorities were questioning the validity of his marriage to a U.S. citizen that occurred a year earlier, the office said. Boley was seeking a green card and the woman he claimed to be his wife allowed an immigration officer to review her phone in hopes to make clear that the two truly were in love.
While the officer was going through messages on her device, a new one popped up – from “Chriss”, complimenting her for the “best sex ever”, the Providence Journal reported.
[….]
“At trial, the woman testified that her marriage to Boley was a sham, and that she married Boley solely for the purpose of him obtaining a green card,” the office continued. “She testified that she and Boley did not live together and never had a physical relationship, but that Boley did take steps to create a paper trail that he resided with her, such as having some of his mail sent to her address where he did not live.”

*** Both the Kenyan Killer, Billy Chemirmir, and the Nigerian who brutally murdered the Utah coed either did marry or attempted to marry Americans in order to stay in the country.
How many more are out there?

Utah Update: Immigration Status Unclear for Nigerian Charged in Coed Murder

Well, check this out!
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Authorities maintained from day one (if they mentioned it at all) that Ayoola Ajayi was a US citizen. (See my previous posts here.)
Now, we are told many paragraphs into a story with this headline that his immigration status is unclear!
 

Ayoola Ajayi, suspect in MacKenzie Lueck’s murder, expunged his Utah theft case, clearing his record

Of course it is too late for poor Mackenzie, but is this one more dreadful crime that could have been prevented had he been thrown out of the country years ago?
From The Salt Lake Tribune,

The 2012 report from Utah State University says police there wanted Ayoola Ajayi charged with a class B misdemeanor for stealing an iPad.
What happened after that has been a mystery in the three weeks since he was accused of kidnapping and killing MacKenzie Lueck in Salt Lake City, when reporters and investigators tried to reconstruct his background. Utah’s court database has no listing of charges being filed.
ayoola ajayi booking photo
A piece of the puzzle was solved Wednesday. An employee who answered the phone at the Cache County jail confirmed its records on Ajayi had been expunged.
[….]
….people convicted of crimes have more incentive to seek an expungement. Convictions, even for a misdemeanor offense like Ajayi was suspected of, can prevent people from gaining jobs, loans, serving in the military and obtaining concealed firearm permits.
People who knew Ajayi have said he carefully built an image of an educated professional. An expunged conviction would allowed Ajayi to say “the arrest or conviction did not happen,” according to the Utah State Courts. It also would have prevented the public, including Lueck, from finding any conviction in a public records search.

Many paragraphs in….

Ajayi is from Nigeria. The Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office has said he is a legal resident of the United States, though no one has specified his exact immigration status.

[….]
There are mixed opinion on whether expunging a conviction would have helped Ajayi in any immigration or naturalization proceeding. Some legal guides say theft can be considered a crime of moral turpitude for which someone can be denied permanent residency.
[….]
July 22, 2012, campus police investigated the theft of an iPad, according to reports provided by the campus. The next day, USU technology staff found that someone was using the tablet to access the internet. Police found Ajayi using the iPad in the iconic academic building known as Old Main, a report says.
An officer searched the iPad’s web history and found that, though Ajayi was married, he accessed dating sites, listed himself as single and was pursuing “a female as a prospect to marry to keep from being deported.”

Much more here.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar Fined for Violating Campaign Finance Laws; Questions about Alleged Marriage to Brother

Surely you have all seen this news, but as I started to pull my round-up together for last week (yes, I am late!), I realized I need to post this more prominently even if most of you have seen the latest installment of Ilhan’s exciting life.
And, I am posting it because she casually mentions that she followed Muslim law when she married hubby number one. 
This is how Sharia creep works! Many people will just say ‘well, okay.’  (See my post yesterday.)

Omar with husband number one and three
Omar celebrating with husband number one (and now number three). In between she allegedly married her brother.

 
The version of the story I’m using about Omar’s financial shenanigans is from the UK Daily Mail and I mention that because although this story was everywhere, the Daily Mail is often the first place you will read news deemed politically incorrect by the snooty and biased US media.
Continue reading “Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar Fined for Violating Campaign Finance Laws; Questions about Alleged Marriage to Brother”

Child Brides! When Legal Immigration Must be Fixed

Thanks to a reader for sending this news from the Associated Press.

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Photo: No excuse for child brides in Europe!  (Not in US either!)  https://www.thedailybeast.com/theres-no-excuse-for-child-brides-in-europe

 
Did you know that our LEGAL immigration system allows children, mostly girls, to be exploited through a form of immigration that allows old men to import child brides?
And, it allows children in the US to bring in ‘husbands’ much older than themselves.
Frankly, I don’t see any defense for this flaw in our immigration system, and it seems it could easily be fixed through administrative action immediately, and ultimately by Congress when those do-nothings get around to doing something.
From the AP (emphasis is mine):

WASHINGTON — Thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides to live in the United States were approved over the past decade, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.
In one case, a 49-year-old man applied for admission for a 15-year-old girl.
The approvals are legal: The Immigration and Nationality Act does not set minimum age requirements. And in weighing petitions for spouses or fiancees, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services goes by whether the marriage is legal in the home country and then whether the marriage would be legal in the state where the petitioner lives. [What the heck! Why should we consider the legality of the arrangement in their home country! Whiff of creeping sharia here?—ed]

unchained
Fraidy Reiss of Unchained at Last is working to end child marriage. http://www.unchainedatlast.org/

[….]
There were more than 5,000 cases of adults petitioning on behalf of minors and nearly 3,000 examples of minors seeking to bring in older spouses or fiances, according to the data requested by the Senate Homeland Security Committee in 2017 and compiled into a report.
Some victims of forced marriage say the lure of a U.S. passport combined with lax U.S. marriage laws are partly fueling the petitions.
[….]
The data was requested in 2017 by Johnson and then-Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, the committee’s top Democrat. Johnson said it took a year to get the information, showing there needs to be a better system to track and vet the petitions.
“Our immigration system may unintentionally shield the abuse of women and children,” the senators said in the letter.
[….]
The head of USCIS, L. Francis Cissna, said in a letter to the committee that its request had raised questions and discussion within the agency on what it can do to prevent forced minor marriages.
The agency noticed some issues in how the data was collected and has resolved them. Officials also created a flagging system that requires verification of the birthdate whenever a minor is detected.
The country where most requests came from was Mexico, followed by Pakistan, Jordan, the Dominican Republic and Yemen. Middle Eastern nationals had the highest percentage of overall approved petitions.

Much more here (including some horror stories).
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