Details of reigning African champion, Ekevwo, Abire, Etim and others fraud cases emerge

Three more Nigerian athletes reigning African Games 100m champion Raymond Ekevwo, Mercy Abire and Aniekeme Etim were also indicted over wire and mail fraud in the US.

News agencies had earlier reported that two Nigerian athletes Toluwani Adebakin and Emmanuel Ineh face a 10-year jail term after being convicted by US District Judge Kristi Johnson of the Southern District of Mississippi for transferring thousands of dollars to Nigeria as part of a complex fraud scheme.

Ekevwo, 23, who won the gold medal in the men’s 100m at the African Games in Rabat, Morocco in 2019 was part of the men’s 4x100m relay quartet that won bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK and was also in Nigeria’s team to the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA.

Abire, 25, a student at the Louisiana State University, last competed in the women’s long jump event of the Nigeria qualification trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos in July 2019, while Etim, 22, was the African Champion in the women’s 100m event at the 2015 African Junior Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Further court documents seen by our correspondent, revealed that Ekevwo, Abire and Etim were also charged to court alongside Adebakin, Ineh and a Zimbabwean athlete Ngoni Chadyiwa on several counts of fraud at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Eastern Division.

The court document showed that the indicted athletes wired a total of $223,426 which is about N99 million to their co-conspirators in Nigeria.

Count 1 read, “Beginning at a date unknown but at least as early as May 2018, and continuing until the date of this Indictment, in Forrest County, in the Eastern Division of the Southern District of Mississippi, and elsewhere, the defendants, ANIEKEME ETIM, TOLUWANI ADEBAKIN, NGONI CHADYIWA, EMMANUEL INEH, RAYMOND EKEVWO, and UYOYO MERCY ABIRE a.k.a Mercy Abire Matanmi, did knowingly combine, conspire, and agree with each other and with other persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury to commit offenses against the United States in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1956 and 1957, to wit:

a.       To transport, transmit, and transfer, and attempt to transport, transmit, and transfer, a monetary instrument or funds involving the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, that is, mail fraud and wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1343, from a place inside the United States to and through a place outside of the United States, and from a place outside of the United States to and through a place inside the United States, knowing that the funds involved in the transportation, transmission, and transfer represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity and knowing that such transportation, transmission, and transfer was designed in whole or in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 19s6(a)(2)(BXi); and

b.       To knowingly engage and attempt to engage in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000, affecting interstate and foreign commerce, which was derived from specified unlawful activity, that is, mail fraud and wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1343, and knowing that the funds represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957.”

The charged athletes were accused of fronting for a scamming syndicate also known as 419 in Nigeria receiving proceeds of the money collected in dubious means from the victims and then helping to wire same to Nigeria.

On how they duped their victims in the US, the court document revealed, “In early February 2019, victim J.S. was attempting to sell antique fumiture online and provided a cellular telephone number for potential buyers to contact. J.S. was contacted by an individual utilizing the name ‘Derrick Degarmo.’ Degarmo first asked J.S. to send him Amazon gift cards, which Degarmo would pay for using checks. J.S. complied, but each of Degarmo’s checks for the Amazon gift cards bounced. Degarmo agreed to purchase the fumiture from J.S. under condition that J.S. pay for the shipping of the furniture. J.S. agreed. Degarmo selected what was allegedly a private moving company and told J.S. the cost of shipping would be $6,000.00. Degarmo directed J.S. to make the check out to ANIEKEME ETrM and mail it to an address in oxford, Mississippi. J.S. sent the check as directed. After several days, the moving company never arrived to pick up the furniture and Degarmo’s checks for payment of the furniture bounced. when J.S. attempted to cancel the moving company check in March 2019, it had already been cashed.

“Victim S.G. communicated with an individual known as ‘Andrew Cullum’ starting in or around late 2018 and continuing through at least in or about July 2020. S.G. met Cullum while using social media services Facebook and Hangout. cullum was allegedly working in Scotland, but claimed he was originally from Nashville, Tennessee. S.G. had been sending Cullum money over the course of their relationship, including gift cards, personal checks, and wire transfers. In or around December 2018, at Cullum’s direction, S.G. attempted to send $20,000 to RAYMOND EKEvwo in Gainesville, Florida. S.G. received picture from Cullum showing that EKEVWO’s Bank of America account was closed. S.G. sent a $12,000 check to TOLUWANI ADEBAKIN in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in or about August 2019. S.G. was directed to send this check because ADEBAKIN was a Bitcoin dealer who would forward the funds to EKEVWO.

“Victim T.W.W. communicated with an individual known as ‘Andrew Cullum’ or ‘Andrew Collum,’ starting in or around August 2018 and continuing through at least in or about January 2020. T.W.W. met Cullum while using social media services Facebook and Hangout. Cullum was allegedly working in Scotland, but claimed he was originally from Nashville, Tennessee. T.W.W. had been sending Cullum money over the course of their relationship, including gift cards, personal checks, and wire transfers. T.W.W. sent cash through the mail to TOLUWANI ADEBAKIN in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; ANIEKEME ETIM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and UYOYO MERCY ABIRE in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Additionally, in or around July 2019, T.W.W. mailed a check for $18,000 to ADEBAKIN.”

Apart from transferring money among them at different times, the accused also wired the money to their co-conspirators in Nigeria.

“It was apart of conspiracy that the defendants, ETIM, ADEBAKIN, CHADYIWA’ INEH, EKEVWO, and ABIRE, upon receipt of the proceeds of the conspiracy, would send the proceeds internationally to bank accounts in Nigeria and elsewhere,” the court document said.

“On February 28,2019, ETIM wire transferred $25,955.00 from her Bank of America bank account ending in X5061 to Meekoa lnternational’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account ending in X5043.

“On March 26,20|9,ETIM wire transferred $12,155.00 from her Bank of America bank account ending in X5061 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account ending in X5043.

“On June 3,2019, ADEBAKIN wire transfemed $12,255.00 from his Regions bank account ending inX2536 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account ending in X5043.

“On August 15,2019, ADEBAKIN wire transferred $14,604.00 from his Regions bank account ending inX2536 to a bank account controlled by Meekoa Intemational.

“On September 6, 2019, ADEBAKIN wire transferred $11,000.00 from his Regions bank account ending in X2536 to a bank account controlled by Meekoa Intemational.

“On July 17,2019, CHADYIWA wire transfened $13,500.00 from his Regions bank account ending in X1564 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account ending in X5043.

“On July 3,2020, INEH wire transfened$17,427.00 from his wells Fargo bank account ending in X2408 to a United Bank for Africa PLC bank account held by Maduagwu Calistus Ugochukwu.

“On December 10, 2018, EKEYwo wire transfened $5,355.00 from his Bank of America bank account ending in X0587 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account ending in X5043.

“On November 28,2078, ABIRE wire transfened $20,000.00 from her JPMorgan chase bank account ending in X2309 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account.

“On November 30, 2018, ABIRE wire transfened $21,450.00 from her JPMorgan chase bank account ending inx2309 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account.

“On January 15,2019, ABIRE wire transferred $33,520.00 from her JPMorgan chase bank account ending in X2309 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account.

“On April4, 2019, ABIRE wire transfened $23,360.00 from her JPMorgan Chase bank account ending in X2309 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account.

“On August 14,2019, ABIRE wire transferred $25,000.00 from her JPMorgan Chase bank account ending in X2309 to Meekoa International’s Sterling Bank PLC bank account.”

These were all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h) the court was told.

The second count charge read, “Beginning on a date unknown but at least as early as May 2018, and continuing until the date of this Indictment, in Forrest County, in the Eastern Division of the Southern District of Mississippi, and elsewhere, the defendants, ANIEKEME ETIM, TOLUWANI ADEBAKIN, NGONI CHADYIWA, EMMANUEL INEH, RAYMOND EKEVWO, AND UYOYO MERCY ABIRE a/k/a Mercy Abire Matanmi, did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, and agree with each other and with other persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury to commit offenses against the United States, to wit:

a.       Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, that is, having devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money or property by means of false and fraudulent representations, pretenses, and promises, and for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute such scheme and artifice, knowingly and unlawfully caused to be delivered by the United States Postal Service, or private commercial interstate carriers, matters according to the directions thereon, and attempted to do so;

b.       Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, united States code, Section 1343, that is, having devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money or property by means of false and fraudulent representations, pretenses, and promises, and for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute such scheme and artifice, knowingly and unlawfully caused electronic wire communications and transfers to be transmitted in interstate and foreign commerce for the purpose of executing the scheme, and attempted to do so.”

The court thereafter ruled that the charged athletes “shall forfeit to the United States all property involved in or traceable to property involved in the offenses, including but not limited to all proceeds and/or property used to facilitate the offenses.”

“Further, if any property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the defendant: (a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; (b) has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; (c) has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court; (d) has been substantially diminished in value; or (e) has been commingled with other property, which cannot be divided without difficulty, then it is the intent of the United States to seek a judgment of forfeiture of any other property of the defendant, up to the value of the property described in this notice or any bill of particulars supporting it,” it also ruled.