Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, has been accused of receiving money from alleged international fraudster, Ramon Abbas alias Hushpuppi, to arrest and jail a co-conspirator, Chibuzo Vincent.
This was contained in a statement released on Wednesday, July 28, by the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
The statement was titled; ‘Six Indicted in International Scheme to Defraud Qatari School Founder and then Launder over $1 Million in Illicit Proceeds’.
According to the District court, Hushpuppi, who pleaded guilty to charges bordering on; money laundering, wire fraud, felony, amongst others, used Kyari, a leader of the Inspector-General of Police’ Intelligence Response Team, to jail Vincent.
Hushpuppi allegedly went after Vincent after a dispute broke out among the team members.
According to the indictment, Hushpuppi allegedly conspired with five others to defraud a businessperson by claiming to be consultants and bankers who could facilitate a loan to finance construction of a school in Qatar.
The five co-conspirators include; Abdulrahman Juma from Kenya (28), Chibuzo Vincent (40), Yusuf Anifowoshe (26), Rukayat Fashola (28), Bolatito Agbabiaka (34), all Nigerians.
According to the court documents, Juma allegedly posed as a facilitator and consultant for the imaginary bank loans, while Hushpuppi played the role of ‘Malik’, a Wells Fargo banker in New York.
Hushpuppi and the five others allegedly defrauded the victim out of more than $1.1 million and laundered the proceeds of the fraud in several ways.
“Vincent, in turn, allegedly provided support for the false narratives fed to the victim by, among other things, creating bogus documents and arranging for the creation of a fake bank website and phone banking line,” it read.
“Approximately $230,000 of the stolen funds allegedly were used to purchase a Richard Mille RM11-03 watch, which was hand delivered to Abbas in Dubai and subsequently appeared in Hushpuppi’s social media posts.”
“Court documents outline a dispute among members of the conspiracy, which allegedly prompted Vincent to contact the victim and claim that Abbas and Juma were engaged in fraud. After this contact, Abbas allegedly arranged to have Vincent jailed in Nigeria by Abba Alhaji Kyari, 46, of Nigeria.
“According to the affidavit, Kyari is a highly decorated deputy commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force who is alleged to have arranged for Vincent to be arrested and jailed at Abbas’ behest, and then sent Abbas photographs of Vincent after his arrest. Kyari also allegedly sent Abbas bank account details for an account into which Abbas could deposit payment for Vincent’s arrest and imprisonment.”
Abba Kyari is yet to react to his alleged involvement with Hushpuppi.
Meanwhile, Anifowoshe, Fashola and Agbabiaka who were arrested in New York and New Jersey on July 22, are expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles in August.
Recall that Huspuppi, 37, was in June, 2020, arrested by the Dubai police alongside 12 other members of his crew, for defrauding victims of over 1.6 billion Dirham (N168 billion).
They were later on handed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America where they were arraigned.
