Facts have emerged on how Nigerian Young Billionaire, Obinwanne Okeke was arrested by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation team.
FBI, in an affidavit disclosed that Obinwanne was arrested for wire fraud valued at over $12 million.
He was said have fraudulently initiated a business on behalf Unatrac Holding Company, an Export Sales Office for Caterpillar heavy industrial and farm equipment in United Kingdom.
“…The FBI opened an investigation in July 2018…discovered that after capturing the legitimate credentials of Unatrac’s Chief Financial Officer, the accused was able to log in and access the CFO’s entire Office365 account, which included all of his emails and various digital files, the logs indicated that between April 6 and April 20, 2018, the intruder accessed the CFO’s account 464 times, mostly from Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from Nigeria.
“With full access to the account, the intruder sent fraudulent wire transfer requests from the CFO’s email account to members of Unatrac’s internal financial team. The intruder also attached fake invoices to the emails to enhance the credibility of the requests,” the investigator stated. The investigation, painstaking and far-reaching, lasted more than a year during which Obinwanne emerged as the principal culprit and has since been arrested while on his regular visit to the United States.
Obinwanne, born on November 9, 1987 was in 2016 named by Forbes Magazine as one of 30 Enterpreneurs under 30 to watch.
He was also listed among 100 Most Influential Young Africans 2018 which included Davido, Falz, Ahmed Musa.
He holds a Bachelors and a Master’s degree (MA) in International Relations and Counter-Terrorism (cum laude) from Monash University, Australia.
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No matter how bad Invictus Obi’s fraud is, it isn’t remotely near what Bernie Madoff or Elizabeth Holmes managed to pull off.
And no, we are not the worst people on earth.
That doesn’t mean we are angels.
— Onye Nkuzi (@cchukudebelu) August 17, 2019
The Irony about the FBI’s investigation that led to “Invictus Obi” arrest is that;
Invictus claims to have a Master’s in Forensic Criminology and Cyber studies.
But was caught only from his recovery email.
— Young Otutu (@YoungOtutu) August 16, 2019
This Invictus Obi’s story clearly shows that Yahoo Yahoo boys can operate anywhere- even wearing suits. That’s why I hardly believe all these influencers giving Tedx Talks if I can’t trace their sources of income. Most of them do Yahoo as a major side hustle. Run your own race!
— Olalekan Adigun (@MrLekanAdigun) August 16, 2019
In one fell swoop the world shits on your role models. Invictus Obi was the entrepreneur you wanted to be like,Samson siasia was the honourable coach we all loved. Are there true role models in this country at all?
— Femi Njoku #TeamEsther (@FemiDenning) August 16, 2019
The sad and most painful thing about this Invictus Obi story, is the fact that it is another major stain, and will make it even harder for legit Nigerian remote workers, freelancers, online business persons to get deals and jobs now.
The average Nigerian may not understand…
— Nwanganga ⚪ (@Pmoney_Talks) August 16, 2019
Invictus obi
When I saw his name on Forbes list of young billionaires I was proud and inspired and thought to myself "another person to follow". Only to discover now that he is a fraudster ? This is so disappointing and backstabbing. ???? pic.twitter.com/ysqjHfR9II
— Pitah (@PeteOdiase) August 17, 2019
Imagine if EFCC was doing a investigation on Invictus Obi? Read that communique on Invictus Obi and see how thorough an investigation is, not silly media trials that crumble in court. Guy was Forbes listed and a motivational speaker too. Imagine.
— Raymond (@IamTheIroko) August 16, 2019
