Court jails Akwa Ibom Ponzi scheme operator 20 years for N2.9m fraud

Federal High court sitting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital has found one, Umanah Umanah, a notorious Ponzi scheme operator guilty of defrauding his victim of N2.9 million in a sleazy transaction.

Consequently, the presiding judge, Justice Agatha Okeke, in about one-hour judgment convicted him and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which prosecuted the case, told the court that Umanah’s travails started in 2020 when the anti-graft agency’s operatives arrested him in connection with a petition against him by the victim.

“One of his victims had lodged a petition that he ((Unanah Umansh) had swindled him over N2.9million and subsequently issued him with an N500,000 cheque, which was dishonoured by the bank because the bank was not funded.

“During the investigation, the Commission discovered that the defendant lured his victims through bogus promises of a return on investment of up to 50 per cent within seven days through his company, No Burn Global Limited”, the EFCC explained.

The defendant, the Commission statement added, deceived his unsuspecting customers that the firm has a network of several branches all over Nigeria.

Therefore, Justice Okeke, relying on the submission of the EFCC’s prosecution counsel and relevant sections of the law, pronounced Umanah guilty and subsequently consigned him to spend the next 20 years behind bars.

However, the Judge held that the ruling would serve as a deterrent to other fraudulent interlopers in the habits of dispossessing unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned incomes under false pretence.

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