US court dismisses cyber fraud case against Hushpuppi’s crony

A US court has dismissed the case against Olalekan Ponle, popularly called “Woodbery”, the Nigerian earlier arrested alongside Hushpuppi, an embattled Instagram celebrity, on cyberfraud allegations, the Cable reports.

The UAE authorities had detailed how Hushpuppi and his cronies, including Woodbery, were busted in a special operation over cyber-fraud involving 1.9 million victims to the tune of N168 billion.

Woodbery had thereafter been extradited to the US where he faced charges on conspiracy to commit fraud, one for which he risked 20 years jail term.

US’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had alleged that part of the monies from the scams, which he pulled between January and September 2019, had been stashed away in a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet.

According to Premium Times, the US government, on Monday, filed a motion through John Lausch, its attorney, requesting that the case against Woodbery be dismissed without prejudice.

It is understood that the motion is pursuant with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 48, stating the government may, with leave of court, dismiss an indictment, information, or complaint.

Thereafter, a court order, which was issued by Robert Gettleman, a judge, on Tuesday in response, stated that the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint without prejudice had been granted.

It is, however, believed that the dismissal is temporary and the prosecutor can refile the case within a certain period of time, although the reason why the motion was granted is yet to be ascertained.

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