Ringleader George Abrue, a Nigerian immigrant to the UK, was sentenced to five years behind bars for his role in the multi-million pound fraud and money laundering scheme.
According to the City of London police, Abrue, 29, his wife, Sarah Robson, 28, and mother-in-law Jocelyn Cowper, 57, hired unlicensed brokers who used aggressive sales tactics to sell shares in false start up companies about to float on the stock market. The alleged start-ups dealt in mineral and bio fuels.
To legitimize their operation, Abrue and his cohorts acquired UK phone numbers and created bogus companies, opening up bank accounts using addresses of Abrue’s unsuspecting UK neighbors.
Professional-looking websites and brochures produced in Sweden were created to convince people to invest. Many of the victims were elderly and vulnerable.Abrue also recruited former colleagues from the phone sales industry to work for him. The recruits were trained in Malaga, Spain and operated from the city of Majorca. Here, they pressurized people over the phone into buying shares in non-existent companies such as Bio-Fuel Solutions Corporation and New Power Technology.
The unsuspecting victims were sent ‘bogus’ share certificates, produced in a Sunderland back-street office run by Scotty Henderson, 31 - one of Abrue main partners - to provide evidence of their investments and to encourage them to make further payouts.
The money obtained from these fraudulent deals was laundered through Swedish and Italian bank accounts to fund extravagant lifestyles for Abrue and his associates.
Abrue used his ill-gotten gains to buy such luxury cars as a Ferrari, Bentley and Maserati, which were housed in Spain. The gang also held parties for hundreds of people in top hotels in Barcelona.
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The scammers came under scrutiny by the UK police in August 2009 when victims began to complain to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) after losing money from the cold-call solicitations.In December 2009, the City of London Police led a national operation called Operation Soundwave, in collaboration with Spanish law enforcement that saw 11 people arrested in Northumbria and three others in Manchester, Derbyshire and London. Abrue was detained in Sweden and was later extradited back to the UK several months to be charged.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Clark of the City of London Police said: "George Abrue was a bright and articulate man, but he was also an unscrupulous and callous coward. He showed no sentiment in his crime, and clearly thought nothing of the impact his fraud had on its victims.”Another Nigerian, Babatunde Aluko was sentenced to 3 yrs and 9 months imprisonment on one count of conspiracy to defraud, and another for money laundering.
http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/uk-court-convicts-nigerian-led-phony-stock-selling-fraudsters
Scotland & British judicial system, who said George Ibrue is a Nigeria?. Most foriegners enter Nigeria illegally & obtain NIGERIA PASSPORT same day due to Nigeria's corrupt Immigration Officials. Nigeria Immigration is like the Nigeria Police who are blinded & have glutton penchant for bribe money. This is more reason Boko Haram Islamist terrorist babarains most coming from Niger, Chad & Cameruan are threatening the soverenghty of NIGERIA. All African criminals in Europe & America claim to be Nigerians. Thats alibi liars & claim.
ReplyDeleteThose yoruba cowards that call ibos names can see one of yours now. Idiots, when crime is committed is only ibos some ignorant pple will run here to call ibos all sort of names. Atleast all tribes in Nigeria commit crime.
ReplyDeletewhen news broke last week about the igbo guy convicted for fraud in the us.this forums were filled with people saying bad things about igbos....... now a bigger theif has been caught and he is yoruba.people should say bad things about him or........
ReplyDeleteTypical Nigerians, just like their corrupt leaders. They like to buy expensive cars, houses and host lavish parties abroad when their people are suffering at home.
ReplyDeleteHardworking Nigerians do not admire you thieves. When they are stealing, they tell you they are doing business. I notice the United Kingdom and a host of other European countries are very soft on their jail times, come to my country and commit such crimes; when you get caught, the rest will be history.
His name is not Yoruba, but Niger-Deltan. And we all have our bad sides.
ReplyDeleteA shame to his people and country..just like Bankole, Nafada, and the rest of them. What do you expect? Charity began at home for this common thief.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like honest labor.He should have known that everyday for the thief but one day for the owner.
ReplyDeletethis yoruba people na only stealing and fraud they sabi ,always disgracing nigeria with their fraudelent deeds.
ReplyDeleteThe name Abrue is Igbo, nit Yoruba for the record.
ReplyDeleteHey! wait a minute, what makes this guy a yoruba guy and not Ibo, Yoruba's don't bear Goerge, you these Ibo fruadstars, if you do not have better hings to write, you better keep quiet. Rather than condemn the guy for the fraud committed in a foreign land you are busy bring ethnic setiment into the forum, I pity Nigeria, we cannot grow and develop with is mentality, what has the Ibo, yoruba and hausa mentality produced? Corruption, Kiddnapping, Fraud, maladmistration, nepotism, underdevelopment, failed nation etc.
ReplyDeleteThe youth that should be at the front championing for the development of the nation are busy fighting about ethnic setiments, what a wasted generation, the elites have succeeded in brain wahing the youth to the extend that the youths cannot think proprerly, we are being used and we would continue to be used if we continued with this attitute of ethnic setiment
I am surprised that we have deviated from the substance to chase shadowns. This thief is NOT YORUBA AND YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK. Rather, he is a DELTA IBO, It does not excuse his crime and his ethnic nationality is irrelevant. What is relevant is his crime and the disgrace he brought on top of the already tarnished image of Nigeria. I say he should be handed over to the Boko Haram boys for his punishmnet.
ReplyDeleteYou nigerians are so dumb. That's why there can never be peace in Nigeria because all you guys do is point fingers and argue over stupidness. Instead of focusing on the issue, you guys are getting all tribalistic and ignorant. You all need deliverance and I pray God will deliver you from all the bitterness and anger stored up againsr each other.
ReplyDeletesome people can not see beyond ethnicity and religion that's why the politicians are looting us blind the Ibo man fiddled the figures in his pharmacy the so called Yoruba guy stole from innocent old people they have been apprehended and would pay for their crimes. Nigerians are equally represented in criminal activities our name is in the gutter lets get on with it we have bigger fish to fry like our thieving politicians.
ReplyDeleteSometimes am amazed by the quality of the contribution,someone is convicted of crime and someone decides to turn it into a tribal issue,is criminal disposition a tribal issue. Let someone who is sure of his facts come and prove to me that EFCC prosecution has exempted any tribe in this country since it was introduced.
ReplyDeleteQuite a number of our dear contributors needs a crash course in sociology,criminals are not limited by race or tribe,White,Caucasian,Latino,Igbo,Yoruba,Hausa or any human being is susceptible to criminal acts without proper upbringing and effective crime control mechanisms instituted and enforced by the society.Please enough of this low level thinking contribution aimed at portraying any particular tribe in bad light,am a Yoruba man but first a Nigerian and I see the good in every tribe that makes up the country and in all of humanity.
he's not yoruba !!! dumb ass igbos. always looking for ways to come at yorubas. we know y'all envy us cos we're more cultured and smarter than y'all... awon ode oohsi ...
ReplyDeleteGeorge Abrue is not a Yoruba name, is my people from Niger Delta. In SR no tribe is spare in as much as you cought in your evil SR presents your case as it's.
ReplyDeleteIt's you guys that your leaders have blind-folded see tribe and sentment as way of life. That is why our so called leader ride on us. Evil is evil in respected of the person that commited it.
In sincerity, Yoruba people try in exposing evil one among them than any other tribe in Nigeria. I know the role of my people in Ibori case, shielding the criminal from arrest. I bet you Yoruba wont do that. Ask Obasanjo , Bankole and Bode George.
I think it's high time to exposed criminal and let them feel their evil deed in our society without mentioning any tribe or religion.
Why call this guy a Nigeria? from all indications, he is a British/EU citizen. A fellow that shuttles between the UK, Spain and Sweden and is permitted to operate accounts in all countries is broadly speaking, an EU citizen. You must be resident in this countries to be able to operate bank accounts there. You guys just like creating negative image for Nigeria.
ReplyDelete@concernednigerian
ReplyDeleteYou wrote that, "Those yoruba cowards that call ibos names can see one of yours now. Idiots, when crime is committed is only ibos some ignorant pple will run here to call ibos all sort of names. Atleast all tribes in Nigeria commit crime." This exposed your ignorance. No, we don't shield criminals among us, unlike you. Go and ask Bankole, Bode George, etc. This person is not Yoruba, but a deltans. And I bet, if you go to the root of this guy, he is probably of Igbo parentage. You are bastard. Why don't you grow up for once.
I agree with you that tribalising any discourse in or about Nigeria is a subterfuge hugely exploited by the so-called elites to perpetrate their selfish ends.
ReplyDeleteCorruption knows no tribe or ethnicity - we've evidences of all tribes in Nigeria being involved in it. It may well be a matter of proportionality though. After all, are indigenous peoples [tribesmen & tribeswomen] not at the helm of affairs of all the LGAs, States, Parliamentary representations? Why are all these places stinking with bare-faced larceny of public coffers? Why is the story not different all over the country?
Only fools will see a crime committed and start mentioning tribe. What about Omoyele Sowore that founded SR and is exposing the crime, is he not a Yoruba? Moreover, i'm familiar with Yoruba names, and that's definitely not one. He's most likely from Niger Delta. What difference does it make anyway? It's your corrupt politicians who have blinded your thinking and turned you into foolish ethnic gingoists.
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree with you about the Yoruba's high-ground compared to others in fighting corrupt fellow tribe's people. I wonder what convincing arguments you'd make with regard to your listed examples.
ReplyDeleteAspects of Boy George's case, for example, can be revealing here! Did Yoruba praise-singers & elders in large numbers not troupe out to celebrate his release from prison as if he were a hero and not an ex-felon?
However, that many from the same tribe also clearly condemned it, remains commendable. If anything, it reminds us that corruption DNA is not mainly tribal in make-up, though sociologists can argue that some tribes, or whole society (like Nigeria for example), may be more tolerant towards corruption than others. Perhaps, this is your point!