Filmmaker Seun Egbegbe regains freedom after years in jail

Filmmaker Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, has regained his freedom after spending three years and six months in prison.

The movie producer was jailed on February 10, 2017, after fraudulently obtaining N39 million, $90,000, and £12,550 from over forty Bureau De Change Operators in Lagos between 2015 to March 2017.

Egbegbe, who was the boss of Ebony Production, allegedly swindled the BDC operators out of money by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.

Federal High Court, Ikoyi, found him guilty of just one of the 44 Counts charges against him.

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo declared that 43 of the 44 Count charges were crumbled because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo then sentenced the filmmaker to jail. After 42 months in jail, Egbegbe was set free yesterday October 11, 2022.

Internet fraudster’s mother sentenced to five years in jail

Justice M.S Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Benin City, on Tuesday sentenced one Debest Osarumwense, to five years imprisonment for aiding a criminal suspect.

The woman is the mother of a suspected internet fraudster, Endurance Osarumwense, who is on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wanted list.

The commission arraigned Osarumwense on a one- count charge aiding and abetting a criminal suspect.

The commission accused the convict of aiding her son to receive the sum of N91.2million being proceeds of his criminal activities.

Following her arraignment, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge.

In his response, the prosecution counsel, I. K.Agwai, urged the court to convict and sentence the defendent accordingly.

Justice Shuaibu sentenced Osarumwense to five years imprisonment or an option of N1 million fine.

She will also forfeit the balance in her bank account to the Federal Government.

Upon arraignment, the defendant pleaded guilty.

In view of her plea, the prosecution counsel, I. K.Agwai admonished the court to convict and sentence her accordingly.

Justice Shuaibu convicted and sentenced the defendant to five years imprisonment with option of N1 million fine. She is also to forfeit the balance in her bank account to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Former South African President, Jacob Zuma sentenced to jail

Former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has been sentenced to prison for 15 months after he was found guilty of contempt of court by the Constitutional Court.

The Acting Deputy Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe, in delivering the verdict, emphasised the extraordinary attacks by Zuma on the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa ordered that Zuma present himself at a police station in his home town of Nkandla or Johannesburg within five days.

Khampepe ruled: “There can be no doubt that Mr Zuma is in contempt of court.”

The order stems from Zuma’s refusal to appear at an anti-corruption commission to answer questions about his alleged involvement in corruption during his time as president. Zuma has repeatedly denied the allegations.

“Never before has the authority and legitimacy of the Constitutional Court been subjected against these kinds of attacks,” the judge said.

“If his conduct is met with impunity, he will do significant damage to the rule of law,” the judge ruled.

Zuma served as South Africa’s President from 2009 to 2018.

US court sentences ex-policeman to 22 years in jail for George Floyd’s murder

A court in Minneapolis, United States, on Friday sentenced a former policeman, Derek Chauvin, to 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of an African- American, George Floyd.

The murder of Floyd, 48, on May 20 last year caused one of the biggest demonstrations against racism and police brutality in the US in decades.

The American hip-hop artiste died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

The ex-police officer was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges last month.

Chauvin, 45, was also told to register as a predatory offender and barred from owning firearms for life.

Prosecutors had demanded a 30-year sentence for the convict.

The judge, Peter Cahill, who handed down the term, said Chauvin’s sentence was based on his “abuse of a position of trust and authority as well as the cruelty shown to the deceased.”

He said: “What the sentence is not based on is emotion, or sympathy. But at the same time, I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain that all the families are feeling, especially the Floyd family.”

Spray naira notes and go to jail – CBN warns Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has reiterated its warning that anyone caught spraying Naira notes will be prosecuted.

This directive is a bid by the apex bank to curb the rate at which Nigerians ‘mutilate, deface, squeeze and even spray and sell’ the naira notes during memorable occasions such as weddings and birthday parties.

An Assistant Director at CBN Currency Operations Department, Aladeen Badejo made this known during the commencement of the CBN two-day sensitisation fair held in Abeokuta, Ogun state on Thursday, June 10.

Abuse of the currency attracts a penalty of not less than six months or a fine of not less than N50,000 or both,” Badejo said at the event

Man who slapped French President, Emmanuel Macron sentenced to jail

A 28-year-old man who slapped French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been sentenced to four months in jail.

Damien Tarel was immediately arrested after the incident which occurred as Macron was greeting a crowd in the region on Tuesday.

A French court in the south-east city of Valence convicted Tarel on Thursday June 10, on a charge of violence against a person invested with public authority.

He was given four months in prison and an additional 14-month suspended sentence, and was banned from ever holding public office and from owning weapons for five years.

Tarel described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot” and member of the gilets jaunes economic protest movement.

After the incident, Tarel acknowledged hitting the president with a “rather violent” slap.

When I saw his friendly, lying look, I felt disgust, and I had a violent reaction. It was an impulsive reaction … I was surprised myself by the violence,” he told the court.

He said he and his friends had considered bringing an egg or a cream pie to throw at the president, but had dropped the idea – and insisted that the slap wasn’t premeditated.

I think that Emmanuel Macron represents the decline of our country,” he said, without explaining what he meant.

Macron wouldn’t comment Thursday on the trial, but insisted that “nothing justifies violence in a democratic society, never.”

“It’s not such a big deal to get a slap when you go toward a crowd to say hello to some people who were waiting for a long time.

“We must not make that stupid and violent act more important than it is,” he said in an interview with broadcaster BFM-TV.

At the same time, the president added, “we must not make it banal, because anyone with public authority is entitled to respect.”

Another man arrested in the ruckus that followed the slap, identified by the prosecutor as Arthur C, will be judged at a later date, in 2022, for illegal possession of weapons.

The prosecutor’s office said that as well as finding weapons, police who searched the home of Arthur C also found books on the art of war, a copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf and two flags, one symbolising communists and another of the Russian Revolution.

Empire star, Bryshere ”Hakeem” Gray sentenced to jail for ‘choking’ his wife

American actor, Bryshere Gray, popularly known as Hakeem Lyon on Fox TV series, Empire, has been sentenced to 10 days in jail after pleading guilty to felony aggravated assault for choking his wife until she passed out.

Gray, 27, entered a guilty plea in his domestic violence case, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ.

The rapper cum actor was arrested on domestic violence charges in July 2020, after a woman said her husband had assaulted her for ‘several hours’.

When cops got to their home in Goodyear, Arizona, Gray refused to come outside and barricaded himself inside the house overnight.

Police said the woman had multiple visible injuries on her body and that she said Gray strangled her at one point until she passed out.

Her injuries were non-life-threatening but she was taken to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released, police said, adding that detectives and a Victim’s Advocate “continued to assist her after her discharge from the hospital.”

The actor has been sentenced to 10 days in a county jail and three years probation as part of his plea agreement.

He will reportedly not be allowed to consume illegal drugs and will have to submit to drugs and alcohol testing during his probation. He must also pay restitution to his victim.

Court jails man one year for cybercrime in Kaduna

Justice P. H. Malong of a Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna has convicted and sentenced one Felix Oyegbada to one year imprisonment for offence bordering on cybercrime.

Felix was convicted on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 after pleading guilty to one count amended charge preferred against him by the Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The charge reads, “that you Felix Oyebada “M” sometime between February and March, 2020 in Ekpoma, Edo State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, did commit an offence to wit: retain possession of three(3) Fidelity Bank Plc ATM cards, issued in the name of different card holders (Christopher Omodiagbon, Peter Ayemere and Amiolemen Eric), which cards you knew were taken under circumstances which constitute card theft, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 34 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention, Etc) Act 2015 and punishable under the same section”.

In view of his guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel M. Lawal urged the court to convict the defendant.

Justice Malong convicted and sentenced Felix to one year in prison with option of one million naira fine.

Man Jailed 14 Months In Osogbo for Defrauding American of N19.6m.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office, has secured the conviction of one Oteyowo Akinkunmi Samuel over internet-related fraud.

Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State pronounced the 32-year-old, who claimed to be a graduate of civil engineering, guilty of a one-count amended charge of criminal impersonation on Monday, January 18, 2021 and handed him fourteen months custodial sentence.

The crime offends Section 22(2) (b) (ii) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2) of the same Act.

He was charged for defrauding one Warren Doht, an American, of a total sum of N19,664,128.50 (Nineteen Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty Eight Naira, Fifty Kobo).

The convict had, however, approached the Commission for a plea bargain agreement which formed the basis for the amended charge with which he was arraigned and convicted of on Monday.

After pleading guilty to the amended charge, prosecution counsel Murtala Usman urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Apart from the jail term, the court also ordered Oteyowo to restitute the N19,664,128.50 to the victim of his crime.