Prison authorities in the United States have confined three notorious internet fraudsters of Nigerian descent in the same prison ahead of the February 14, 2025 release date for one of them, Bidemi Rufai, 46.
According to a report by Peoples Gazette, the other internet crooks, Ray ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, 41, and Jacob Olalekan Ponle, 33 also known as Mr Woodberry were moved to the Fort Dix low-security prison near Joint Base McGuire Burlington County, to serve out the remainder of their prison term.
Mr Rufai, an aide to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, was arrested in May 2021 at the John F. Kennedy airport, where he had booked a Royal Dutch ticket to flee the U.S. to Nigeria.
FBI special agent Heidi Hawkins coordinated the arrest after uncovering a scheme showing how Mr Rufai stole the identities of thousands of U.S. citizens to claim their COVID-19 benefits running into half a million dollars. He lavished the stolen funds on luxury cars and watches to shore up his extravagant lifestyle.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The U.S. government ordered him to pay $604,000 as restitution to victims of the scam, majorly government institutions like the Washington Employment Security Department ($350,763), Arkansas Division of Workforce Services ($10,166), Maine Department of Labour ($8,205), Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency ($44,216), among others.
Mr Rufai, with prison number 83912-053, was moved from a facility outside Seattle, Washington, to Fort Dix in Burlington County ahead of his release on Valentines’ Day in 2025.
His compatriot and comrade-in-crime, Mr Woodberry, had also been moved from the notorious Danbury correctional centre in Connecticut to Fort Dix. Mr Woodberry, 33, with prison registration number 54314-424, is set to be released on October 17, 2027, and would, after that, 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 convicted and sentenced Mr Woodberry to eight years and three months in jail over one count of fraud in July 2023. He was handed a lighter sentence that shaved off seven other counts in a plea bargain.
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 recommend he forfeit his diamond-studded necklace and rings and all gold jewellery.
The last crook of the triad, the sensational Hushpuppi and serial Internet fraudster who once enjoyed uploading pictures and videos of his designer wearing posh rides and luxury parties on Instagram, has also been shipped to Fort Dix detention facility.
Hushpuppi, 41, with prison number 54313-424, was moved from a facility outside Los Angeles to Fort Dix, where he is expected to serve the rest of his sentence until August 6, 2029.
Arrested in June 2020 in Dubai and extradited to the U.S. to defend himself against 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 was not immediately clear whether the U.S. prison officials were aware that the Nigerian trio they transferred to the same facility were allies from Nigeria and Dubai.
With reporting from Peoples Gazette
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