Headline

Nigerian Jailed In US Over $6m Inheritance Fraud

Published

1 month ago

September 16, 2025

A United States court has sentenced a Nigerian, Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, to over eight years in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme that defrauded more than 400 elderly victims of over $6m.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in a statement on Monday, said Akhimie, 41, was sentenced on September 11 to 97 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges.

According to court filings as indicated in the statement, Akhimie and his accomplices sent personalised letters to victims in the U.S., posing as bank officials in Spain. The letters claimed the recipients were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from relatives who had purportedly died overseas.

Victims were told that before they could access the inheritance, they had to pay various fees, including delivery charges, taxes, and other payments to avoid “government scrutiny”. The funds, however, were siphoned through a network of intermediaries, including former fraud victims in the U.S., who were manipulated into acting as conduits for the syndicate.

U.S. prosecutors said no victim received any inheritance. Instead, the fraudsters enriched themselves while targeting some of the most vulnerable members of society.

“Akhimie and his co-conspirators collected money victims sent in response to the fraudulent letters through a complex web of U.S.-based former victims, whom the defendants convinced to receive money and forward to the defendants or persons associated with them. Victims who sent money never received any purported inheritance funds. In pleading guilty, Akhimie admitted to defrauding over $6 million from more than 400 victims, many of whom were elderly or otherwise vulnerable,” the statement read.

U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones described the offence as a betrayal of trust, “Schemes like this steal not only money but dignity from our seniors. Our Office stands with victims, ensures their voices are heard, and will relentlessly pursue those who prey on them,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division stressed the role of global collaboration in tackling cross-border fraud.

“The Justice Department will continue to pursue, prosecute, and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S. consumers, wherever they are located. This case is a testament to the critical role of international collaboration in tackling transnational crime.

“I want to thank our U.S. law enforcement partners, as well as those who assisted across the globe, including the National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service of the United Kingdom, for their outstanding contributions to this case,” Shumate said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which investigated the case alongside Homeland Security Investigations, also pledged to maintain its crackdown on financial fraud.

Acting Inspector in Charge, Bladismir Rojo, said, “We are committed to protecting American consumers from being defrauded by transnational criminal organisations. We will continue to work with the Department of Justice to deliver justice.”

Similarly, Acting Special Agent in Charge Ray Rede of HSI Arizona added: “Defrauding the elderly and other vulnerable populations is a betrayal of not just trust but of humanity. Justice will prevail, and those who exploit others for personal gain will be held accountable.”

Akhimie is the eighth defendant sentenced in the sprawling case. In April, another Nigerian, Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, who was extradited from Portugal, was handed the same 97-month sentence by District Court Judge Roy Altman.

At the time, Judge Altman described the offence as “an incredibly serious crime” that demanded strong punishment to protect “the most vulnerable, the least protected members of our society.

Other defendants had previously received jail terms in related proceedings before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.

The Department of Justice said the probe benefited from assistance provided by Europol, and authorities in the UK, Spain and Portugal, alongside its Office of International Affairs.

The case has again spotlighted Nigeria’s recurring link with cross-border fraud. U.S. authorities have, in recent years, prosecuted several Nigerians in high-profile scams, ranging from internet fraud to romance scams.

Headline

UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

Headline

Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

Headline

Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP