Former US congressman involved in corruption case with Atiku gets 13 years in jail

Former congressman William Jefferson has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for corruption that involved US companies and Nigerian officials.The ruling yesterday, by Federal Judge TS Ellis III of the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, followed Jefferson's conviction for collecting bribes on behalf of Nigerian officials, speciafically, former Vice President , Abubakar Atiku. However, the FBI found $90,000 cash, which Jefferson said was meant for Atiku, hidden in a freezer.
But Atiku and his wife, Jennifer Douglas, did not accept summons and subpoenas to appear before the US court. Instead, they moved their family out to Dubai, and put their Potomac mansion up for sale.US Justice department officials told Saharareporters that arrest warrants have been issued against Atiku and his runaway wife, Jamila Jennifer Douglas-Atiku and that the duo would be promptly arrested if they step on US soil.Saharareporters sources said Atiku and his business partner, Otunba Fasawe, did not return the sum of $21 million taken from the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to the Nigerian coffers.EFCC's 21-paragraph counter-affidavit filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja on PTDF Scam

Olu Ayeni; the story of a successful fraudster

You call it fraud, we call it hustle' - On July 2, 1996, officers of the Federal Investigative and Intelligence Bureau (FIIB), Nigeria, accompanied by U.S. Secret Service agents and the Regional Security Officer in observer roles executed search warrants on an operational base for advance fee scam...16 locations in Lagos, resulting in the arrest of 43 Nigerians. One of the addresses,
No. 84 Okota Road, Ire Akari Estate, Isolo, was not Dyke Bourder Oil Services as initially claimed but an operational base for advance fee scam. Nineteen Nigerians were arrested at the address and two facsimile machines and five telephone sets were seized along with a fake letterhead from the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Also confiscated were international business directories, files of correspondence from victims worldwide and N390, 000 (approximately) US$4,800) believed to be proceeds from advance fee scams. Thirteen years on, the scam has burgeoned into full blossom drawing patronage from an unending stream of con artists comprising young Nigerian adults and more astonishingly, teenagers.
The story of the world of advance fee fraudsters who would rather be appreciated as "hustlers" – harmless ones to be precise.