AG Bill Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced this week that an unprecedented number of cases of fraud against senior Americans have been charged or prosecuted and announced a hotline where you can report suspected fraud and help them catch more of the crooks, often foreign crooks, stealing from older Americans.
From CBS News (good for them because I have seen very little elsewhere about this story from Tuesday):
Barr announces more than 400 charged for defrauding seniors over past year
Washington — More than 400 people have been charged with defrauding seniors out of more than $1 billion over the past year, the Justice Department revealed Tuesday. Attorney General William Barr announced the charges in Tampa on Tuesday at the Sun City Center Community Hall for seniors.
Barr explained why this issue has personal meaning for him. “I myself was used as a lure in a scam,” the attorney general told retirees. Before he became the nation’s 85th attorney general, the 1991 official photograph of Barr from his first stint in in the job in George H.W. Bush’s administration was used by scammers offering phony federal grants in exchange for money. “It was really heart-wrenching. People called in desperate hope that this was real,” Barr explained. “That crystalized the issue for me, and when I got to the department I wanted to make sure that this was one of our highest priorities to go after this.”
Barr has made elder fraud one of his top priorities as attorney general, and Tuesday’s announcement nearly doubles last year’s prosecutions.
Every U.S. attorney’s office across the country participated in either prosecuting or conducting proactive community outreach as part of the department’s sweep.
[….]
Scams targeting the elderly are usually foreign-based, like the “Nigerian prince” scheme or robocalls involving the impersonation of a U.S. government official who demands money from targets.
“The charges announced today demonstrate the great success of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Forceto identify and stop those who are targeting our senior communities from overseas,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. “We’re committed to continuing our efforts to keep our elderly citizens safe, whether they’re being targeted door-to-door, over the phone, or online.”
And, see theFBI Press Releaseon the announcement which includes a link to an interactive US map so you can see where some of the 400 cases are being prosecuted.
As I have said on innumerable occasions the President should be highlighting this fraud-busting work of his Justice Department, like this Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, at every one of his rallies.
Note to PayPal donors! I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.
As many of you are looking forward to a favorite social event of the year—the Super Bowl—the Washington Post of all places published a long and detailed investigation into the man, a Nigerian doctor, who claims to be the father of what he describes as a massive medical crisis—CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
Reader Cristina sent this story because she knows of ‘Frauds and Crooks’ interest in Nigerian fraudsters and criminals. I’m not saying his work is completely baseless, but it is interesting to see that the Washington Post is dancing around that theme.
Anyone raising kids involved in sports these days is thinking about this subject, so read it all. I’ve only snipped the opening paragraphs:
From scientist to salesman
How Bennet Omalu, doctor of ‘Concussion’ fame, built a career on distorted science
In 2017, Bennet Omalu traveled the globe to accept a series of honors and promote his autobiography, “Truth Doesn’t Have A Side.”
In a visit to an Irish medical school, he told students he was a “nobody” who “discovered a disease in America’s most popular sport.”
In an appearance on a religious cable TV show, he said he named the disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, because “it sounded intellectually sophisticated, with a very good acronym.”
And since his discovery, Omalu told Sports Illustrated, researchers have uncovered evidence that shows adolescents who participate in football, hockey, wrestling and mixed martial arts are more likely to drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, struggle with mental illness, commit violent crimes and kill themselves.
A Nigerian American pathologist portrayed by Will Smith in the 2015 film, “Concussion,” Omalu is partly responsible for the most important sports story of the 21st century. Since 2005, when Omalu first reported finding widespread brain damage in a former NFL player, concerns about CTE have inspired a global revolution in concussion safety and fueled an ongoing existential crisis for America’s most popular sport. Omalu’s discovery — initially ignored and then attacked by NFL-allied doctors — inspired an avalanche of scientific research that forced the league to acknowledge a link between football and brain disease.
Nearly 15 years later, Omalu has withdrawn from the CTE research community and remade himself as an evangelist, traveling the world selling his frightening version of what scientists know about CTE and contact sports. In paid speaking engagements, expert witness testimony and in several books he has authored, Omalu portrays CTE as an epidemic and himself as a crusader, fighting against not just the NFL but also the medical science community, which he claims is too corrupted to acknowledge clear-cut evidence that contact sports destroy lives.
After more than a decade of intensive research by scientists from around the globe, the state of scientific knowledge of CTE remains one of uncertainty. Among CTE experts, many important aspects of the disease — from what symptoms it causes, to how prevalent or rare it is — remain the subject of research and debate.
But across the brain science community, there is wide consensus on one thing: Omalu, the man considered by many the public face of CTE research, routinely exaggerates his accomplishments and dramatically overstates the known risks of CTE and contact sports, fueling misconceptions about the disease, according to interviews with more than 50 experts in neurodegenerative disease and brain injuries, and a review of more than 100 papers from peer-reviewed medical journals.
Omalu did not discover CTE, nor did he name the disease.The alarming statistics he recites about contact sports are distorted, according to the author of the studies that produced those figures. And while Omalu cultivates a reputation as the global authority on CTE, it’s unclear whether he is diagnosing it correctly, according to several experts on the disease.
Read more here, apparently the jury is out, but if you have young athletes at home, definitely read it all.
See today at RRW that the President has added Nigeria to the list of countries facing travel restrictions to the US.
The story is over a week old, however, I checked this morning to see if he has been charged with murdering her yet and only see that he is still being held on a million dollar bond.
And, although I’m late on reporting the news (thanks to reader Gail for sending it), it really doesn’t matter because I suspect that unless you follow Texas news, or LOL! Nigerian tabloid news, you haven’t seen this elsewhere in America.
Our media doesn’t mention that the obvious ‘new American’ is Nigerian, but I’ve noticed that news media in Nigeria is always quick to identify their own. See here.
Once again we have a criminal from Nigeria. Why on earth do we have so many of them living here?
AUSTIN, Texas — A University of Texas student has been arrested as police investigate the cause of his mother’s death at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Downtown Austin.
20-year-old Eyitoluwa Olayeye University of Texas student arrested.
Austin Police Department officers responded to the Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 4:44 a.m. on Wednesday after the caller reported they heard screaming in one of the rooms.
Upon arrival at the room in question, police forced entry and found the victim lying face down on the floor with the suspect on her back.
Police then detained the suspect, identified as 20-year-old Eyitoluwa Olayeye. The victim was identified as his mother, 48-year-old Kehinde Olayeye. She was pronounced dead at 6:12 a.m.
Police reported a bloody pillow was found inside the room and the suspect appeared to be singing in a different language. A witness also reported they heard a female running down the hallways around 4:15 a.m. saying “let me in.” He also said he heard what appeared to be a person being dragged past his room.
Upon speaking with the victim’s sister, she told police they had flown to Austin from Georgia the night before to visit Eyitoluwa. She said she was staying in a separate room from the pair and was unaware of any disturbance between them before she went to her own room.
Police then learned that Eyitoluwa was released from Dell Seton Medical Hospital on Nov. 5, where he was treated for psychiatric evaluation.
While they were still in Georgia, the suspect’s aunt said she heard him rambling and saying, “I pray that God brings us together.” The suspect’s friends had also told them that he was saying he had found his purpose in life and that, apparently, he had touched someone inappropriately at the library on campus and had been asked to leave.
Eventually, the friends called back to tell them that Eyitoluwa was transported by EMS to the hospital. Prior to boarding their flight, she said a doctor called them to ask if they had a history of mental illness in the family, which she said she was not aware of. Later, the friends called again to say that he had been discharged.
[….]
At the hotel, the aunt said he again began to speak about God [which God?—ed] and his purpose, and that he had gotten into an argument with a professor about the economy and how it was not in favor of the poor. She also said he told them that the hospital was trying to hold him because of a mental issue, but he “just told them what they wanted to hear so they would let him go,” court documents state.
She said he appeared to be “really hyped up” at this point, so she told him to go to bed. She said that she and her sister wanted to bring him back to Georgia. She also said she hugged him before going back to her own room.
There are a lot more details, sogo hereto read it all.
For new readers:
If you have recently started following ‘Frauds and Crooks’please have a look at my ‘Welcoming post’ from January first of this year. I wanted to write this blog as I saw increasingly that the Open Borders Left had launched a national media effort in advance of the 2020 presidential contest to tell the public about all of the joys that ‘new Americans’ bring to our country.
I want to balance that propaganda by telling you about the frauds, criminals, terrorists and murderers in the ‘new American’ population.
You can bet if a refugee from Somalia goes to Harvard, we are told that he/she is a refugee and from Somalia.
However…
One of my major concerns is that even when the mainstream media reports on horrific cases like this one, we rarely learn the nationality of the alleged criminal and almost never hear how the perpetrator gained entry to the country—legally or illegally.
Therefore, we can never judge whether a legal immigration program is flawed and is opening our gates to frauds, crooks and criminals.
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 Departmentabout 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.
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.
Geez, he allegedly stalked at least one underage girl, clearly harassing her even after a court order told him to stay away, and it wasn’t even his first run-in with the law. He was arrested in 2017 for stalking another woman.
Although no story mentions his nationality, I’m betting on the ‘N-word’—Nigerian. And, I wonder if he is a student visa overstay, but of course there is no mention of his immigration status.
His mental fitness to practice medicine is being questioned, but how about questioning why he is in the US in the first place!
Frisco doctor banned from practicing medicine after allegedly stalking underage girl
A Frisco doctor who is accused of stalking an underage high school student has been barred from practicing medicine in Texas.
The state’s medical board suspended Uchenna Okechukwu Aduba’s medical license this week after a panel found that his practice “would constitute a continuing threat to the public welfare.”
Aduba faces felony charges in Collin County because of allegations that he stalked a high school student, even following her into a classroom. He’s also faced accusations of harassment at an elementary school, Collin College campuses and in his northeast Frisco neighborhood.
It’s unclear whether Aduba was practicing medicine in Frisco, a Texas Medical Board spokesman said. He received his Texas medical license while he was a resident at Houston’s UT Health hospital in 2017, and records show he also held a medical license in California from May 2015 to October 2016.
Since June 2016, Aduba has been evaluated nine times by physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors, according to Texas Medical Board documents. He has been diagnosed with “serious mental health conditions that affect his ability to practice medicine safely.”
The board temporarily suspended Aduba’s medical license Oct. 10. It will remain suspended until the board takes further action either in a settlement with Aduba or through a hearing during which Aduba can defend himself against the accusations.
What took so long?
The stalking charge is scheduled to go to trial in early November.
[….]
He also is accused of stalking a high school student who lived in his neighborhood, according to the documents. He tried sending messages to her through the Nextdoor app, knocking on her door and sliding a photo of himself under her door with his telephone number written on it.
Aduba followed the high school student in his car while she was on her way to class, according to the documents. He made it into her classroom before the school’s staff detained him. [Imagine how scary this was for the victim!—ed]
At the time he told a Frisco police officer he was a Collin College student who was there to observe the class, and he provided a fake student ID number, according to the documents.
On Nov. 3, 2017, he was arrested on a felony stalking charge. As part of the arraignment on that charge, a protective order was imposed on Aduba to prevent him from coming within 2,000 feet of the girl.
Four days later, he was arrested for violating that protective order after he drove past the girl’s home.
No! I haven’t renamed this blog—it is not ‘Nigerian Frauds and Crooks’ (yet!).
Thanks to a reader for sending this story. And, I want to thank all of you for sending links to promising stories for Frauds, Crooks and Criminals. Unfortunately there aren’t enough hours in my day to post them all especially as I am now writing regularly again at Refugee Resettlement Watch,see here.
Note to PayPal donors! I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.
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.
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….
