The FBI has seized 151.8 Bitcoin from the wallet of Olalekan Jacob Ponle, better known as ‘Mr Woodberry,’ an Internet fraudster detained in the United States.
Woodberrry and Ramon Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, were detained in Dubai and charged with conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in a U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Court filings from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois show that US authorities sought seizure of any property earned from Mr Ponle’s illicit operation, according to reports.
Hushpuppi And Woodberry Extradited To The US
The documents said: “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).”
It was gathered that the prosecutors had filed for the forfeiture on April 29, 2022, when Bitcoin was trading at $39,457, bringing the value of the haul to $6 million.
The FBI had in 2020 filed a complaint against Woodberry over his criminal activities.
They also accused Ponle of using Bitcoin to conceal stolen funds from his alleged criminal activities online. The bureau noted that Mr Ponle had been using the same address (16AtGJbaxL2kmzx4mW5ocpT2ysTWxmacWn) since 2014.
How We Tracked Woodberry Via iPhone, WhatsApp, Bitcoin Transactions – FBI
According to the FBI, Woodberry and his associates engaged in a scheme known as business email compromise (BEC) and subsequently defrauded American companies of tens of millions of dollars while converting $6.5 million into 1,500 BTC.
“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.
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