In a verified complaint for forfeiture in Rem filed at United States District Court, District of Massachusetts in Civil No.: 25-CV-XXXXX-XX between United States of America as plaintiff Vs 7.23918814 BTC and other various cryptocurrency seized from Binance account associated with user ID XXXXX3280 On October 25, 2024 as Defendant in Rem; the court acknowledged that it has “found probable cause for forfeiture of the Defendant Property”....Read Full Article >>➤
The United States has filed a forfeiture action for $1.5 million seized from the Binance wallet of Nigerian serial fraudster Avwerosuo Omokri. In a verified complaint for forfeiture in Rem filed at United States District Court, District of Massachusetts in Civil No.: 25-CV-XXXXX-XX between United States of America as plaintiff Vs 7.23918814 BTC and other various cryptocurrency seized from Binance account associated with user ID XXXXX3280 On October 25, 2024 as Defendant in Rem; the court acknowledged that it has “found probable cause for forfeiture of the Defendant Property”.
Account records for user ID ending in XXXXX3280 obtained from Binance showed that the wallet was registered to Nigerian passport holder Avwerosuo Omokri with the registered email address johnrichie513@gmail.com.
Special agent Katrina Caulfield, in an Affidavit sworn on oath, detailed how she uncovered the operations of an internet fraud syndicate, running fraudulent trading investment platforms to lure unsuspecting victims.
According to a court document obtained by SaharaReporters, she averred that $1.5 million was seized after numerous complaints from victims triggered a detailed investigation into the suspect’s activities and bank records.
In the 54-paragraph affidavit dated February 16th, 2025, she declared: “Based on my knowledge, training, and experience, and the foregoing information set forth in this affidavit, I believe there is probable cause that the Defendant Property is subject represents proceeds traceable to a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Wire Fraud) and is property to forfeiture to the United States pursuant tol8 U.S.C. §§ 981(a)(l)(A) and (a)(l)(C) because it involved in violations of 18 U.S.C § 1956 (Money Laundering), or property traceable to such property.
“Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalties of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.”
Giving details, she stated: Victim 1, a resident of Newton in Massachusetts, March 2024, filed an internet crime complaint form to seek help after she fell for a cryptocurrency scam where she lost 1.33272285 BTC.
She told Ms Caulfield that she joined a group on Facebook in February 2024 named ‘Financial Independence Forum’, where members were promised “financial independence and early retirement through reliable investment.”
Victim 1, who was not named, said she soon began to connect with the members of the Facebook group, including Tom Sheldon Haley. They began to exchange messages on Facebook Messenger.
Mr Haley, an administrator of the group, portrayed himself as an investment expert versed in online trading. Their chats became frequent, and she was asked to invest in Trade Propel, an investment platform that promised high returns.
Mr Haley sent her detailed steps on how to create a new account on Trade Propel.
On March 13, 2024, Victim 1 transferred 1.3 BTC from Coinbase to a destination wallet provided by the Facebook group administrator.
After some time, she observed her deposit had increased on the website and tried to withdraw the funds, only to be told by Trade Propel customer support that she must pay “tax on earnings” before initiating withdrawal.
The U.S. Secret Service special agent said the demand for more money for investors to access their funds was typical of many scammers, as they often tried to squeeze every penny out of victims.
“Based on my training and experience, I know that scammers often attempt to extract additional funds from victims by instructing victims to pay ‘taxes’ to the scammers before the victims can withdraw funds,” said Ms Caulfield in her submission.
She said, “The scam detailed in this affidavit is consistent with a criminal organization LinkedIn, Match.com, and Facebook.
“The scammers then quickly establish a personal employing an emerging fraud trend involving promises of high returns in cryptocurrency relationship with the victim or conveys a sense of expertise in investing, using emotionally sending a victim a message, initiating contact through various social media platforms like investments, coined as “Pig Butchering.” This type of scheme often begins with scammers manipulative tactics similar to those used in online romance scams.”
She added, “The scammers will use elaborate storylines to convince the victim into believing they are in a relationship and or claiming to be an expert in investing. Once the victim reaches a certain point of trust, they are brought into a cryptocurrency investment scheme and are provided with fabricated information to bolster the scheme’s legitimacy.
“The fabricated information includes, but is not limited to: a. A fake investment platform via a website or mobile application that displays fictious investment options. In reality, the website or application has limited functionality and does not allow the user any access to a cryptocurrency wallet.”
Checks on the Trade Propel website ticked all the fraud boxes as the Secret Service special agent said she could not find any relevant company information, policies and company contact details.
Instead, the website had bios of hedge fund billionaires George Soros, Paul Tudor, and Ray Dialo, claiming that the trio co-signed Trade Propel.
“Also, the website falsely claims to be part of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation),” wrote the U.S. Secret Service special agent.
Ms Caulfield said the platform owner went to great lengths to make the website look legitimate for the purpose of defrauding people.
A money trail by the Secret Service showed how the syndicate immediately transferred the victim’s 1.3 BTC to an intermediary wallet before sending it to another wallet ending in –HKbIS.
Intermediary wallets are often used by fraudsters to disguise and clean up illicit money trails on the Blockchain in order to throw security agencies off their scent.
“Intermediary wallets support the movement of illicitly obtained funds as they help to conceal and disguise the source of the BTC by layering and severing straight line coordinates of transaction activity on the Blockchain to cash out exchangers,” Ms Caulfied stated in her motion seeking forfeiture.
However, the Secret Service special agent was able to bypass all the layering and cover-ups to track the bitcoin to its final destination wallet.
Coinbase provided information that showed additional victims had paid into the same intermediary wallet of the fraud syndicate.
Victim 2 paid $ 29,000, while Victim 3 paid $35,000. The fourth victim was instructed to pay into a different intermediary wallet.
Further investigations revealed that the Tom Sheldon Haley’s Facebook account was not operated by one person but by a fraud syndicate that often deployed the rank and files to approach victims on social media platforms, including Facebook and LinkedIn.
The higher-level fraudsters were the ones on the wallet backends receiving and trying to cover up illicit money flows. Binance records showed that Mr Omokri’s syndicate used four different devices to access the wallets.
The seized funds include 7.23918814 BTC1, 105.75351403 ETH2, 636.11899592 AVAX3, 14120.995091 USDT4; 2380467906.17 SHIB and 319008151.01 PEPE.
Be the first to comment