₦airaland Forum

texazzpete:
This is illegal as heck. You have to inform the parents FIRST. Either you obtain their consent or legally take the child away to a better home. Until you have the appropriate laws in place, any 'NGO' that just goes out and picks up a child from the streets is kidnapping.
Remember also that the kids have grown up with begging as a profession. They may very well love their families. At the least, most of the kids you pick up will be unwilling to leave.

texazzpete:
Do you realize this is kidnapping?
Abeg, don't go and take a child from his/her parents without their consent. They'll skin you alive. Let's keep contributions sensible, please.

U.S. officials said Monday they have charged more than 500 people in what they dubbed the largest-ever nationwide sweep of scam artists preying on individual investors.

The announcement comes as federal agencies and the Obama administration are facing pressure to punish big-name companies and individuals for their role in the financial mess. So far, the U.S. has won few high-profile cases, compared with the aftermath of the savings and loan crisis and the dot-com bust.

The sting announced Monday, named “Operation Broken Trust,” targeted fraudsters and Ponzi schemers around the country who victimized the elderly and other vulnerable people with pump-and-dump and other scams.

Officials said they have netted more than 100 criminal convictions and nearly 350 criminal charges in the probe. But many of the cases were in progress before operation started in August.

“Some cases make big headlines; some perpetrators are high-profile. Many of the cases today do not share those characteristics,” Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Chief Robert Khuzami said at a press conference at the Justice Department to announce the results of the probe.

Officials said the schemes harmed more than 120,000 people and that criminals stole thousands and sometimes millions of dollars from victims. The losses from just the criminal cases total $8.3 billion, while losses from the civil cases amount to $2.1 billion.

“These are staggering, staggering numbers,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at the press conference.

Victims, in many cases, were preyed upon by people they knew well, including their neighbors or members of their church, officials said.

Eldon A. Gresham Jr., a Texas man indicted for an alleged foreign-exchange scam, allegedly targeted his fellow parishioners with claims that his success in foreign-exchange trading was a “blessing from God,” according to Holder.

Gresham allegedly collected nearly $16 million from at least 90 investors from January 2004 through June 2009 by falsely claiming that he generated consistent monthly returns of 10%, according to the Justice Department. In fact, Gresham was losing money on his foreign-exchange trading, Justice said.

In another case, Juan Rangel pleaded guilty in October for his role in a Ponzi scheme that targeted investors recruited through Spanish-language newspapers and magazines.

Rangel and his company Financial Plus Investments allegedly guaranteed investors 60 percent returns each year from the profits of the company’s real-estate and lending businesses. But the Justice Department said he used investors’ money to make payments to other investors and to pay the mortgage on his $3 million home and make monthly payments for his Lamborghini sports car.

Khuzami said scams targeting individual investors are on the rise “as more and more people look to third parties to invest their money through intermediaries, money managers and the like.”

Already, 87 defendants have been sentenced for wrongdoing uncovered by the probe, with several people receiving sentences of more than 20 years. One person was sentenced to 85 years behind bars, Holder said. Meanwhile, civil charges have been filed against 189 people.

The sweep’s results send a strong warning to would-be fraudsters, Holder said. “Cheating investors out of their earnings and savings is no longer a safe business plan,” Holder said.

FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry, speaking at the press conference, said officials also aimed to put the public on alert. “The American people need to understand the threat that they face and their responsibility to remain vigilant,” he said.

The probe began in August by an inter-agency task force set up in November 2009 by U.S. President Barack Obama to investigate financial fraud.

Officials across the U.S. government, including from the U.S. Postal Service, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the SEC and the Internal Revenue Service, coordinated on the sting.

Henry said 48 out of the FBI’s 56 field offices across the country were involved in the sweep. He added the number of FBI agents assigned to securities fraud cases has increased nearly 50 percent during the past three years. Since January 2009, the FBI has opened more than 200 Ponzi scheme cases, he said.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 06, (THEWILL) – Mr. Bhadresh Gohil, the London lawyer of former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, today in a Southwark Crown Court pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges in a V-Mobile shares fraud.

Bradresh is being tried alongside Chief James Ibori; former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Victor Attah, former Delta State Commissioner for Finance who was also Principal Secretary to late President Yar’Adua, Mr. David Edevbie; a close business associate of Chief Ibori, Mr. Henry Imasekha; Love Jakovo, and two foreign nationals; Lambertus De Boer, and Daniel McCann.

Only McCann and De Boer, who are also facing forgery and counterfeiting charges, were in court at today’s first day of trial. Attah, Edevbie, Imasekha, Ojakovo were not in court and did not have legal representation, a source in court told THEWILL.

They are all accused of conspiracy and theft in the structured sale of Delta State and Akwa Ibom State Government shares in V-Mobile, a mobile telecommunications company which offered GSM mobile services, where about $37m USD was stolen and diverted to a company called African Development Finance Co before funds were disbursed to various firms including an aviation company for the purchase of a jet for Chief Ibori.

Mr. Bradesh had been convicted a few weeks ago alongside Chief Ibori’s wife, Mrs. Nkoyo Ibori on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Mr. Bradesh has not been sentenced but remains in custody.

ABUJA, Dec 06 (THEWILL) - For misconduct and abuse of privilege during his reign as Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa was today issued a two-year ban from using the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).

The Secretary of LPPC and Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi in a signed statement made available to THEWILL in Abuja, explained that the LPPC arrived at the decision to suspend the former AGF after going the through report of the sub-committee, which investigated allegation of misdeeds brought against Aondoakaa.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) had recommended the suspension of the former AGF from the inner bar until investigations are concluded.

Also in arriving at the decision to bar Aondoakaa, the committee reviewed the judgment of the Federal High Court, Calabar Division delivered of June 01, 2010, and perused the dishonourable role of Aondoakaa in telling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to obey a court order to issue certificate of return to Emmanuel Obot for the House of Representatives ticket.

The statement reads: “The former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoaka has finally bagged a two-year suspension from the use of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), after the meeting of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) held today, 6th December, 2010 in Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja.

“The decision to suspend the erstwhile AGF was reached after due consideration of the report of the Sub-Committee earlier set up to review the petition of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, the judgment of the Federal High Court, Calabar on 1st June, 2010 declaring among others that he is unfit to hold the office of Attorney General or any public office in Nigeria; and the declaration of his person as persona non grata for offences relating to corruption and the consequent revocation of his entry visa by the American Government earlier in the year.”

San Francisco, Nov 03, (THEWILL) – The United Kingdom Border Agency has confirmed that it confiscated more than half a million pounds in cash from ‘two Nigerian men as they tried to enter the UK through Heathrow Airport.’

A statement emailed to THEWILL from the Home Office Press Office said: “Officers from the UK Border Agency discovered the money, which was in €500 notes and US$100 bills, when the pair were stopped as they arrived on a flight from Paris on Wednesday 20 October.”

When THEWILL contacted the press office for the identity of the duo, a press officer we spoke to said the information would be released at a later date.

The statement however revealed that the men, “a father and son, claimed that they were traders in wine, spirits and cosmetics and they were going to use the cash, which they were carrying in their hand luggage, to buy supplies for their business.

“The money was detained under the Proceeds of Crime Act and will only be returned if they can provide proof that it came from a legitimate source,” the statement said adding that “anyone entering or leaving the UK with more than £1,000 in cash may be asked to provide evidence for the source and intended use of the money or face having it detained.”

It said: “This is to prevent the money made from criminality being hidden in bank accounts or other assets overseas, and to prevent the theft of money from the public purse through unpaid tax.”

The authorities said: “At Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Friday 22 October the UK Border Agency was granted an order to hold the cash for a further four months while the investigation continues.

“Earlier this year, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) announced that the €500 note would no longer be available over the counter in the UK after evidence showed over 90 percent of UK demand was linked to criminality.”

Senior Investigating Officer Ian Truby, from the UK Border Agency’s Criminal and Financial Investigations team, said: “UK Border Agency officers are working hard at all our ports to prevent drugs, contraband or the potential proceeds of crime from entering or leaving the UK.

“Where we suspect that cash may be linked with criminal activity we have the power to seize it, and it will only be handed back if it is later proven to be legitimate.”

THEWILL gathered that following court orders any money detained is held for up to six months at a time while investigations are under way. It may then be ordered as forfeit and returned to the public purse if shown to be associated with criminal activity.

UK Border Agency officers between 2009-2010 seized £11.9million from passengers at ports across the UK.