The United States government, through its intelligence agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has recovered the first tranche of 151.8 Bitcoin from the wallet of Olalekan Jacob Ponle, also known as ‘Mr Woodberry’. ayokinews.com reports
US authorities sought forfeiture of every property obtained from Mr Ponle’s illegal operation, according to court documents filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
“Through the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 as alleged in Counts One through Eight of the indictment, the United States seeks forfeiture of any property involved in or traceable to the defendant’s violation including, but not limited to 151.885720427 Bitcoin Cryptocurrency pursuant to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c),” the court documents said.
The forfeiture filing was lodged on April 29, 2022, at a price of $39,457 per Bitcoin, bringing the total worth of the haul to $6 million.
The FBI filed a criminal complaint against Mr Ponle in 2020, alleging that he used Bitcoin to hide stolen money from his alleged illegal operations online. Mr Ponle has been using the same address (16AtGJbaxL2kmzx4mW5ocpT2ysTWxmacWn) since 2014, according to the agency.
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Mr Ponle and his associates participated in an online scam known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), and conned American corporations of tens of millions of dollars while turning $6.5 million into 1,500 BTC, according to the US spy agency.
“Preliminary blockchain analysis indicates that PONLE received at least 1,494.71506296 Bitcoin related to these BEC schemes, valued at approximately $6,599,499.98 at the time he received the proceeds,” the document added.
In July 2021, Mr Ponle also known as ‘Mr Woodberry’ and ‘Mark Kain’, was arraigned on separate count charges in Chicago.
After his arrest in Dubai, Mr Ponle was detained alongside Ray Hushpuppi and were both charged with conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in a US District Court in Chicago.
Mr Ponle will have to relinquish any property generated from the proceeds of his crimes to the United States government if the jury’s eight-count allegation of wire fraud is upheld.
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