Saturday, July 18, 2026

New U.S. prosecutor takes over Mr Woodberry’s multimillion-dollar fraud trial

A new U.S. prosecutor has been assigned to take over the multimillion-dollar fraud case involving Olalekan Ponle, aka ‘Woodberry’.

• September 8, 2021

A new U.S. prosecutor has been assigned to take over the multimillion-dollar fraud case involving Olalekan Ponle, aka ‘Woodberry’.

Court documents from the Northern District of Illinois showed that John R. Lausch, Jr would take over future proceedings of Woodberry’s case from Assistant U.S. Attorney Melody Wells of the Northern District of Illinois.

Woodberry’s last court date was before Judge Robert W. Gettleman in August, when his lawyers Michael Nash and Tom Durkin applied for an extension to file pre-trial motions.

The next session is set for November 4.

Mr Ponle had been arraigned on a separate charge in Chicago in July. He was arrested in Dubai alongside Hushpuppi and charged in a U.S. District Court in Chicago with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

In July, the U.S government applied for a motion of dismissal without prejudice granted by Mr Gettleman.

A complaint had accused Mr Ponle of orchestrating “business email compromise” schemes to defraud several U.S.-based companies.

The court documents stated that “the schemes resulted in attempted or actual losses to victim companies in the tens of millions of dollars, including a Chicago-based company that was defrauded into sending wire transfers totalling $15.2 million.”

The jury’s eight-count charge of wire fraud still holds, meaning Mr Ponle stands to forfeit, to the U.S. government, any property derived from proceeds in his offences.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

PCRC

Heading 4

PCRC partners police on safe school programme

The police spokesman commended the PCRC leadership for hosting him.

Taraba State

Heading 5

Taraba: LG boss revokes indigeneship certificates

Mr Yusuf said the action became necessary following the introduction of a redesigned certificate.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja

NationWide

Military rescued over 40 victims, arrested more than 20 terrorists in one week: DHQ

Mr Onoja disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja in a statement on military operations nationwide.

Messi, Yamal, Merlin the duck, Curaçao players

Sport

Curaçao, Merlin the duck, red card withdrawal, Messi vs Yamal, other major highlights of 2026 World Cup

From June 11 to July 19, when the final will be played, the 2026 World Cup brought together 48 nations.

Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA)

NationWide

Low awareness biggest threat to data protection in Nigeria, says expert

According to Mr Oni, many Nigerians are unaware that they have rights over their personal information.

Eugenia Abdallah

States

Edo commissioner urges responsible parenting after runaway children reunite with family

According to her, the incident highlights the importance of creating safe and supportive home environments.