Ray ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, 41, Jacob Olalekan Ponle, also known as Mr. Woodberry, 33, and Bidemi Rufai, 46, are all being held at Fort Dix, a low-security prison near Joint Base McGuire in Burlington County, New Jersey. They are expected to serve the remainder of their sentences there.

Mr. Rufai, a close ally of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, was arrested in May 2021 at John F. Kennedy Airport while attempting to flee the U.S. to Nigeria on a Royal Dutch ticket.

FBI Special Agent Heidi Hawkins coordinated the arrest of Bidemi Rufai after uncovering a scheme in which Rufai stole the identities of thousands of U.S. citizens to claim COVID-19 benefits amounting to nearly half a million dollars. He used the stolen funds to purchase luxury cars and watches to support his extravagant lifestyle.

Rufai pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The U.S. government ordered him to pay $604,000 in restitution to the scam’s victims, primarily government institutions such as the Washington Employment Security Department ($350,763), Arkansas Division of Workforce Services ($10,166), Maine Department of Labor ($8,205), and Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency ($44,216), among others.

Mr. Rufai, inmate number 83912-053, was transferred from a facility outside Seattle, Washington, to Fort Dix in Burlington County ahead of his scheduled release on Valentine’s Day in 2025.

His accomplice, Mr. Woodberry, was also moved from the notorious Danbury Correctional Center in Connecticut to Fort Dix. Mr. Woodberry, 33, with inmate number 54314-424, is set for release on October 17, 2027, after which he will be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Judge Robert Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago sentenced Mr. Woodberry to eight years and three months in prison on one count of fraud in July 2023. His lighter sentence was the result of a plea bargain that dismissed seven other counts.

Mr. Woodberry, a socialite with over a million followers on his now-deactivated Instagram page, was arrested on June 10, 2020, alongside fellow fraudster Hushpuppi, at a Dubai apartment. The court ordered him to return $8 million to seven victims, and prosecutors recommended that he forfeit his diamond-studded necklace, rings, and all gold jewelry.

The last member of the triad, the notorious Hushpuppi, known for flaunting designer wear, luxury cars, and extravagant parties on Instagram, has also been transferred to the Fort Dix detention facility.

Hushpuppi, 41, with inmate number 54313-424, was moved from a facility outside Los Angeles to Fort Dix, where he is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence until August 6, 2029.

Arrested in June 2020 in Dubai and extradited to the U.S. to face internet scam charges, Hushpuppi was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022 by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II.

It is unclear whether U.S. prison officials were aware that the Nigerian trio they transferred to the same facility were allies from Nigeria and Dubai.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not respond to requests for comments.

A document filed Friday at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois regarding Mr Woodberry’s forfeiture order said the U.S. Marshal Service will now take custody of the seized crypto assets for disposition.

This also followed Mr Woodberry’s agreement to forfeit all proceeds of the wire fraud, which he committed using the name ‘Mark Kain’, by recruiting at least four money mules while he resided in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

He was arrested by law enforcement officers in Dubai and later handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2020. He was promptly transferred to Chicago, where he has been standing trial.

The federal authorities called on interested persons to file a claim for the property within 30 days and register with valid documents, saying they would “provide written notice to any person known to have alleged an interest in the property that is the subject of the preliminary order of forfeiture.”

If nobody comes forward to claim ownership of the seized assets, American prosecutors said they would proceed to advertise their sale.

“The United States shall publish notice of this order and of its intent to dispose of the property,” the federal authorities said in the motion filed by Morris Pasqual, an acting U.S. attorney overseeing the case.

It added, “The United States requests that the terms and conditions of this preliminary order of forfeiture entered by this court be made part of the sentence imposed against defendant Olalekan Jacob Ponle and included in any judgment and commitment order entered this case against him.”

On June 29, federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Mr Woodberry to 14 years’ imprisonment for the fraud he committed between January and September 2019.

The prosecutors also recommended that Mr Woodberry, known for flaunting his flamboyant lifestyle on social media, forfeit items in the Dubai police custody, such as one Rolls Royce, Lamborghini Urus, Mercedes-Benz G-Class AMG G55, four Rolex watches, one Patek Philippe watch, and three Audemars Piguet watches.

Also, he is to forfeit three gold and diamond-studded rings, five gold bracelets and two gold bracelet keys, six gold neck chains, one gold and diamond-studded necklace, one small gold nugget, two bank cards, about $1,835 in Emirati dirhams, and approximately $15.45 in South African rands.

Mr Woodberry was arrested on June 10, 2020, alongside Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, who was jailed late last year for 11 years in the U.S. for internet fraud.

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Mr Woodberry, who loved to flaunt his lavish lifestyle on Instagram, had at first pleaded not guilty to the eight-count fraud charge brought against him for engaging in a scheme known as business email compromise (BEC).

However, a plea declaration submitted at the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division on April 6 revealed Mr Woodberry had had a rethink and is now pleading guilty to count one of the indictments.

According to his plea agreement, he was required to repay the $8 million he fraudulently received from the seven companies that fell for his scam.

“Defendant understands that by pleading guilty, he will subject to forfeiture to the United States all right, title, and interest that he has in any property constituting or derived from proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of the offence,” stated the document containing Mr Ponle’s signed plea declaration.

Mr Ponle was also asked to waive his rights to the luxury cars, and designer watches he had stashed in Dubai. 

The high-end automobiles include Rolls Royce Cullinan with vehicle no J9153, Lamborghini Urus (N4973) and Mercedes-Benz G-class (G68816).

Other items seized are four Rolex watches, one Patek Philippe watch, three Audemars Piguet watches, three gold and diamond-studded earrings, and six gold neck chains.

Last year, he had forfeited 151.8 Bitcoin, roughly $6 million, to the American government, determined to recover all stolen monies from the Nigerian fraudster.

Mr Ponle was arrested in Dubai on June 10, 2020, alongside Ramon Hushpuppi Abbas, currently serving an 11-year sentence for a similar fraud charge.

Before his arrest in 2020, Mr Woodberry was known for rocking expensive designer wear and showing off his ill-gotten wealth to his massive Instagram followers, the majority of whom had no inkling his luxury lifestyle was funded by cybercrime.

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This is a prison-based hearing where a further investigation is expected to find out how the phone got into the prison.

Also, because the evidence was uncovered from the phone showing Woodberry’s participation in a $2.1 million BEC fraud and buying of over $300,000 of hacked Bitcoin wallets from the Russian underground website, he is likely to face further criminal charges in addition to his current ones lodged at United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

Standard prison procedure is to put the offender in solitary confinement until his disciplinary hearing where he will have to answer how he came in possession of the phone.

Possible outcomes of his hearing are time added to his sentence, loss of visitation privileges; loss of commissary privileges; loss of phone call privileges; and possibly a disciplinary transfer to another prison if there is suspicion that a member of staff brought it into prison for him.

In the case of Ramon Abass, alias Hushpuppi, he has requested a new lawyer to handle his case after he last applied to withdraw.

Woodberry was arrested, alongside Ramon Abbas alias Ray Hushpuppi in the United Arab Emirate on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit. The two were extradited to the U.S. on July 2.

The 29-years-old was accused of tricking an unnamed Chicago-based company of transferring about $15.3million to him.

Companies based in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say.

Woodberry was facing charges bordering on wire fraud conspiracy at a United States District Court in Illinois after he was tracked by an undercover FBI agent posing to be one of his clients.

A report of the grand jury, a group of lawyers empowered to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct, indicted him.

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The jury summed up the allegations against him to an eight-count charge of wire fraud, which violates section 1343 of the United States Codes.

The United States government on Monday filed a motion through its attorney, John R. Lausch, requesting that the case against Mr Ponle should be dismissed without prejudice.

A court order issued by Judge Robert W. Gettleman on Tuesday said the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint without prejudice was granted.

However, when it is dismissed without prejudice, like in the case of Mr. Ponle, the dismissal is temporary as the prosecutor can refile the case within a certain period of time.

The probable causes of dismissal range from unavailability of sufficient evidence, an improper criminal complaint or charging document, to loss of evidence necessary to prove the defendant committed the crime.

He ordered an FBI agent to wire some funds, which were converted into Bitcoins, to an account he controls and that aided to his downfall.

Woodberry went down with Hushpuppi due to their arrogance and love for flaunting and spending lavishly on social media.

He has been charged in the United States District Court in Chicago with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Read the full statement below:

Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray has praised the exceptional efforts exerted by the United Arab Emirate Police in the recent arrest of Raymond Igbalode Abbas, known as “Hushpuppi” and Olalekan Jacob Ponle aka “Woodberry”, who were taken down in operation “Fox Hunt 2”.

Mr Wray also extended his appreciations to Dubai Police for their cooperation in extraditing the wanted criminals, who committed money-laundering and multiple cybercrimes, to the United States.

Fox Hunt 2

Recently, the Dubai Police has arrested the two wanted fraudsters, “Hushpuppi” and “Woodberry” along with ten African cybercriminals in a special operation dubbed “Fox Hunt 2”.

The operation took down the suspects for committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft.

The suspects were caught in a series of synchronised raids by six SWAT teams from Dubai Police who foiled the gang’s bid to deceive many people from around the world and steal their money.

The director of Dubai CID, Brigadier Jamal Salem Al Jallaf said the raid resulted in confiscating incriminating documents of a planned fraud on a global scale worth AED 1.6 billion ($ 435 million).

“The team also seized more than AED 150 million ($40.9 million) in cash, 13 luxury cars with an estimated value of AED 25 million ($6.8 million) obtained from fraud crimes, and confiscated 21 computer devices, 47 smartphones, 15 memory sticks, five hard disks containing 119,580 fraud files as well as addresses of 1,926,400 victims”, he said.

After conducting further investigations and analysing confiscated electronic devices, Dubai Police investigators uncovered sensitive information mined by the suspects on individuals and companies overseas including bank accounts and fake credit cards as well as documents and files condemning the gangs’ illegal activities.

Checkout original statement below:

Raymond Abbas, a Nigerian, known as Hushpuppi, and his accomplice Olalekan Ponle or Woodberry were among 12 people arrested in a police operation called Fox Hunt 2.

On June 11, they were referred to Dubai prosecution for investigations in crimes relating to money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft committed in and outside the country.

The two have been extradited to the USA for further investigation. This was contained in a release by the Federal Bureau of Investigations which thanked the Dubai government for a job well done.

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During their arrest police confiscated 13 luxury cars, valued at about Dh25 million, 21 computers and 47 smartphones.

They said the email addresses of 800,000 people were found and Dh1.6 billion could have been stolen from victims of the alleged scam.