Sentence
BitMEX co-founder Benjamin Delo avoids jail, receives 30 months probation
Benjamin Delo the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has been sentenced to 30 months probation for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which is an anti-money laundering law. The sentence, handed down at a federal court in New York on June 15th, follows his guilty plea to charges in February of “willfully failing to establish, implement and maintain an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program” in his role at BitMEX. Prosecutors had argued Delo should serve a year in prison or at least receive a two-year probation along with six months of home detention, as was given to former CEO Arthur Hayes in May. For Delo, his lesser sentence closes the legal saga which started in October 2020 which also saw co-founders Hayes and Samuel Reed along with BitMEX’s first official employee Gregory (Gr...
Court jails three for Facebook scam
Justice C.L. Dabup of the Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, on Wednesday sentenced three internet fraudsters, Nbubuisi Kerian Ozomba, Paul Obide and Samuel Chukwuebuka Nduchukwe to one-month imprisonment. The trio were convicted for obtaining money by false pretence through the social media platform, Facebook. They were arrested in a sting operation by the Abuja Zonal Office of the EFCC following intelligence on their alleged involvement in an internet-related scam. Investigation revealed that Ozomba created a Facebook Account with the name James Hicks with a profile picture of an American military officer and obtained the sum of $350 USD from Mary Lovely, a Filipino; while Obide (alias Javier Espinal) posed as a military officer from Spain and obtained $2000 from another Filipino, ...
South Africans gather in support of Jacob Zuma — a day before jail deadline
Hundreds of supporters gathered in a show of solidarity for former South African president Jacob Zuma outside his Nkandla homestead Saturday, as the deadline looms for him to hand himself over. In an unprecedented ruling, Zuma was on Tuesday told by the constitutional court to hand himself over by Sunday to start a 15-month jail term for contempt of court. Supporters, mainly members of the African National Congress’s Umkhonto Wesizwe military wing, have for weeks camped outside Zuma’s home in KwaZula-Natal province in solidarity with the former leader. Donning traditional leopard skins and ostrich feathers – wielding spears, shields and clubs known as “knobkerries,” men known as “amaButho,” or Zulu regiments marched in the streets of Nkandla, singing praise songs about Zuma. Bare-breasted ...
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma mounts last-ditch legal fight against jail term
South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before graft investigators. In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the theft of state assets under his tenure. If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to jail to start the sentence. As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be “reconsidered and rescinded.” “It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court, “to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it...
Courts fixes date for ruling in Sheikh El-Zakzaky’s no-case-submission
A Kaduna High Court on Thursday, fixed July 28 for ruling in the No-case-submission filed by the leader of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat. Justice Gideon Kurada fixed the date after the prosecution and counsel to the defendants, addressed the court on the no case submission prayer. Mr Femi Falana, SAN, and lead counsel to El-Zakzaky, who spoke to reporters shortly after the adjournment, prayed the Court to rule in favor of his clients. “The prosecution and the defence addressed the court on the the no-case-submission prayer. ” We did indicate last time that even though the prosecution called 15 witnesses, we felt that no case has been established to warrant our clients being in court. ” In other words, we addressed the court that there...
Lagos begins plea bargain session for Kirikiri inmates
In an effort to decongest correctional centres, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice on Thursday held a plea bargain session for some inmates at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre. The plea bargain session was the first of its kind to be held at a correctional centre in Lagos State. Newsmen reports that the previous practice was for counsel to incarcerated inmates to write to the Attorney-General of the state to consider plea bargain agreements for their clients. A total of 27 inmates – 16 males and 11 females – were beneficiaries of Thursday’s plea bargain session. The Lagos State Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), the state Solicitor-General, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, and some of the ministry of justice staff kick-started the initiative. The state Directorate of Public Prosecuti...
Washington denies Iran state media report saying prisoner swap agreed
The United States on Sunday denied a report by Iran’s state television that the arch-foes had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion frozen Iranian oil funds under U.S. sanctions in other countries. Iranian state television said on Sunday that Tehran would free four Americans accused of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the United States and the release of $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds. The U.S. government denied that an exchange was in the works. The state TV, quoting an unnamed Iranian official, also said British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released once Britain had paid off a debt on military equipment owed to Tehran. A British Foreign Office official played down that report. Iran and world powers are holding talks ...
Tunisian-French rapper Swagg Man sentenced to three years imprisonment
Tunisian-French rapper Swagg Man, known for the Louis Vuitton logos tattooed on his head, has been sentenced to five years in jail for fraud and money laundering, the judiciary said Tuesday. Born in the French Mediterranean town of Nice, the 34-year-old, whose real name is Iteb Zaibet, became an internet celebrity known for his ostentatious clothing, body tattoos, and chunky jewelry. His social media fame led him to be invited onto television shows in both France and Tunisia. On Monday, a Tunis court sentenced him to five years in prison and fined him 100,000 dinars ($36,000) on charges of money laundering and fraud, judicial official Mohsen Dali told AFP. He said funds of about 17 million dinars ($6 million) in euros and Swiss francs were also confiscated from Swagg Man’s accounts. The ra...
Two men bag three years in jail for drug trafficking
A Federal High Court, sitting in Jos on Thursday, sentenced two men, Masa’udu Ishaku, 28, and Isiaka Garba, 30, to three years imprisonment each for trafficking 868 kilogrammes of Tramadol. Justice Musa Kurya sentenced the defendants after they changed their pleas to guilty for drug trafficking. Kurya held that since the defendants changed their pleas to guilty, and also pleaded for leniency, he would temper Justice with mercy. “You are hereby sentenced to three years imprisonment each, beginning from the day you were remanded in the Correctional Centre. “This sentence is to serve as a deterrent to other young people out there, who might think of engaging in such criminal act,’’ he said. Kurya, who frowned at the increased cases of young people trafficking hard drugs in the country, pledge...
Egypt court acquits TikTok stars jailed over ‘debauchery’
An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women imprisoned for “attacking society’s values” over videos they published on TikTok. The women had been sentenced to two years in prison last July for “breaching public morals”. “The court of appeal accepted the appeal filed by Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to debauchery and attacking society’s values,” a court official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named. Hossam, 20, was acquitted after being jailed for encouraging women among her 1.3 million subscribers to broadcast videos in exchange for money, while al-Adham’s two-year sentence for publishing indecent photos and videos was cancelled. Hossam’s lawyer Hussein El Bakar told Thomson Reuters Foundation that her client, a studen...
Atiku Abubakar receives coronavirus vaccine
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has received Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. Confirming the news, Publisher of Ovation magazine, Chief Dele Momodu, displayed Atiku’s picture when he was administered the vaccine by a medical practitioner. Though Dele did not mention the place Atiku took the vaccine but information reaching newsmen said it was in Dubai. In one paragraph sentence, Dele wrote: “Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination…” Former Vice President The Wazirin Adamawa ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR receives Pfizer Covid-19 jab vaccination… pic.twitter.com/286BCmBqHD — Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) January 7, 2021 Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has recorded 1,664 new COVID-19 ca...
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