PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney Southern District of New York
FEBRUARY 20 , 2009
LEV L. DASSIN, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the indictment and arrest of PAUL GABRIEL AMOS in connection with an elaborate, internationally coordinated scheme to gain access to, or “take over,” an account at Citibank in Manhattan belonging to the National Bank of Ethiopia (“NBE”), and to steal approximately $27,167,078 from that account. As detailed in an Indictment returned yesterday in Manhattan federal court:
NBE serves as the central bank for Ethiopia and maintains offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Citibank N.A. provided U.S. Dollar account facilities to NBE through an account at Citibank’s offices at 111 Wall Street in Manhattan. During the period September through November 2008, AMOS and his coconspirators caused bogus documents to be sent to Citibank from, among other places, Lagos, Nigeria. These bogus documents included a “Corporate Resolution for Banking” purportedly issued by senior NBE officials, and a purported “Global Manual Transaction Authorization.” Signatures on those documents appeared to match the signatures of NBE officials in Citibank’s records. The Authorization, among other things, purported to authorize Citibank to accept wire transfer instructions from NBE by facsimile, and included a list of authorized officials – including the purported Governor of NBE and five other purported NBE officials – who could be contacted by telephone to confirm details of any fax instructions received, in what was referred to as a “call back” security check. In fact, the Corporate Resolution and the Authorization, while accepted as valid by Citibank, were forgeries and had not in fact been authorized by NBE.
Moreover, the telephone contact numbers that AMOS and his co-conspirators provided on the Authorization form did not belong to actual NBE officials in Ethiopia, but instead were Nigeria, South Africa and United Kingdom mobile telephone numbers used by co-conspirators.
After supplying Citibank with the bogus Corporate Resolution and Authorization documents, AMOS and his coconspirator caused instructions to be sent to a Citibank payments unit in Buffalo, New York, directing Citibank to wire funds from NBE’s account to various accounts controlled by AMOS and his coconspirators.
Citibank verified these instructions through call back security checks with one or more of the purported NBE officials. In this manner, between October 2 and October 16, 2008, AMOS and his co-conspirators caused Citibank to make a total of approximately 24 wire transfers, totaling approximately $27,167,078, to various accounts controlled by AMOS and his coconspirators in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, China, Cyprus, and the United States.
The Indictment against AMOS was returned late yesterday and charges him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, AMOS faces a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment.
AMOS, 37, a citizen of Nigeria, resided in Singapore until his arrest in Los Angeles on January 15, 2009, while he was seeking to enter the United States. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge PAUL A. CROTTY. AMOS will be presented later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge DEBRA FREEMAN.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the FBI in this case. He also thanked Citibank for its assistance in the investigation. Mr. DASSIN said the investigation is continuing.
This investigation is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys MARCUS A. ASNER and SEETHA RAMACHANDRAN are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi and wife Azeb Mesfin should also be arrested and charged with looting the country’s national treasure.
By BENJAMIN WEISER | The New York Times
Swindles in which someone overseas seeks access to a person’s bank account are so well known that most potential victims can spot them in seconds.
But one man found success by tweaking the formula, prosecutors say: Rather than trying to dupe an account holder into giving up information, he duped the bank. And instead of swindling a person, he tried to rob a country — of $27 million.
To carry out the elaborate scheme, prosecutors in New York said on Friday, the man, identified as Paul Gabriel Amos, 37, a Nigerian citizen who lived in Singapore, worked with others to create official-looking documents that instructed Citibank to wire the money in two dozen transactions to accounts that Mr. Amos and the others controlled around the world.
The money came from a Citibank account in New York held by the National Bank of Ethiopia, that country’s central bank. Prosecutors said the conspirators, contacted by Citibank to verify the transactions, posed as Ethiopian bank officials and approved the transfers.
Mr. Amos was arrested last month as he tried to enter the United States through Los Angeles, a prosecutor, Marcus A. Asner, said in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Amos, who was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, told a federal magistrate judge, “I’m not guilty, sir.” The judge, Andrew J. Peck, ordered him detained pending a further hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The fraud was uncovered after several banks where the conspirators held accounts returned money to Citibank, saying they had been unable to process the transactions, and an official of the National Bank of Ethiopia said that it did not recognize the transactions, according to a complaint signed by an F.B.I. agent, Bryan Trebelhorn.
A Citigroup spokeswoman said: “We have worked closely with law enforcement throughout the investigation and are pleased it has resulted in this arrest. Citi constantly reviews and upgrades its physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to detect, prevent and mitigate theft.”
A spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington said, “We are aware of this unfortunate story.” He said the embassy was not involved in the legal proceedings, and declined further comment. Officials at the National Bank of Ethiopia could not be reached by phone for comment.
Prosecutors said the scheme began in September, when Citibank received a package with documents purportedly signed by officials of the Ethiopian bank instructing Citibank to accept instructions by fax. There was also a list of officials who could be called to confirm such requests. The signatures of the officials appeared to match those in Citibank’s records and were accepted by Citibank, the complaint says.
In October, Citibank received two dozen faxed requests for money to be wired, and it transferred $27 million to accounts controlled by the conspirators in Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus and the United States, the complaint says.
Citibank called the officials whose names and numbers it had been given to verify the transactions, prosecutors said. The numbers turned out to be for cellphones in Nigeria, South Africa and Britain used by the conspirators.
Citibank, in its investigation, later determined the package of documents had come via courier from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from the offices of the National Bank of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.
Citibank has credited back the lost funds to the National Bank of Ethiopia, said one person who was briefed about the situation.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)–Clashes have broken out in the restive Ethiopian region of Ogaden, with rebels saying Friday they have killed 140 government troops and allied militia fighters.
The Ethiopian government Woyanne tribalist regime in Ethiopia disputed the claims from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), saying some 40 rebels were killed by local clan militia.
“The casualty figures heavily favored our forces due to the nature of our operations,” the rebels said in a statement, adding that they lost 29 fighters. “In particular, surprise attacks and ambushing enemy military convoys.”
Communications Propaganda Minister Bereket Simon told AFP that the insurgents “clashed with some of the clan inside Ogaden and the clans have beaten them well.”
The ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia’s oil-rich Ogaden region. They say the local people have been marginalized by Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia’s The {www:Woyanne} military launched an offensive against ONLF after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in the Ogaden in 2007, killing 77 people, including nine Chinese nationals.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Six [fake] Ethiopian opposition parties formed an alliance on Thursday and accused the government of clamping down on dissent ahead of parliamentary elections next year.
[All this is orchestrated by the American embassy in Addis Ababa to give legitimacy to the Meles dictatorship.]
The alliance parties hold only 80 of parliament’s 547 seats, but still represent the most significant opposition to a government that is a close ally of Washington.
The new alliance includes the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) and the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), whose jailed 34-year-old leader Birtukan Mideksa is seen by regional analysts as the foremost opposition figure.
“Violations of democratic rights come … at a time when the general election is only a few months away,” UEDF leader Beyene Petros told reporters in the capital Addis Ababa. “The political space (should be) made conducive for free and fair elections.”
[It is laughable to call Dr Beyene Petros an “opposition politician.”]
Analysts say the government of Prime Minister dictator Meles Zanawi is likely to win next year’s poll as the opposition has been weakened since a 2005 parliamentary election ended in violence that killed 199 civilians.
Bereket Simon, the government’s head of information propaganda, rejected opposition claims the scope for political activity in Ethiopia was too restricted as “baseless accusations”.
“The political space is continually widening. We welcome the forming of this alliance. We believe it is good for Ethiopian democracy to see parties with the same programmes forming together,” he told Reuters.
Ethiopian opposition parties routinely accuse the government of harassment and say their candidates were intimidated when Ethiopians went to the polls last April for local elections.
The six parties will contest next year’s election under the banner of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia (FDEE), while maintaining their independent structure and leadership.
The FDEE called on Thursday for Birtukan to be freed from prison, along with “several other Ethiopians incarcerated on political grounds”. They did not name the other prisoners.
Birtukan has been in solitary confinement since December and went on hunger strike for 13 days last month. She was jailed after the 2005 poll, pardoned in 2007, and rearrested last year.
Gebru Asrat, leader of the Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty Party, will serve as chairman of the alliance.
The other parties are the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), the Ethiopian Democratic Unity Movement (EDUM) and the Somali Democratic Alliance Forces (SDAF).
The genuine version of YeGazetegnaw Mastawesha (The Journalist’s Memoir) by Tesfaye Gebreab is now available online. To order, write to Selama Distribution at [email protected] or click here here.
In Atlanta, it is available at Merkato Ethiopian Grocery.
MERKATO MARKET, 3300 BUFORD HWY, SUITE B, ATLANTA, GA 30329
Tel: 404-320-9777
A forged version of the book with several chapters removed is being circulated online. The purpose of this thievery is to deny the author from earning money which he could use to write more investigative books that will expose the ruling party’s (Woyanne) secrets.
Don’t be party to this act of sabotage. Get the genuine book from the book’s official distributors.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Harambe Newspaper editor Wosenseged GebreKidan has been taken to the notorious Kality prison today after he told the court that he doesn’t have 3,000 birr to pay for bail.
The U.S.-financed regime in Ethiopia has brought charges against Wosenseged for publishing a report about lack of participation in the April 2007 local elections, which, according to the prosecutor, violates the “press law.”
Wosenseged is one of the journalists who were released from jail in July 2007 along with the top leadership of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit) after signing a pardon request letter that was prepared by mediators.
Many of the journalists who were released in July 2007 have fled Ethiopia fearing further persecution. Several members of Kinijit are also forced into exile.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Harambe Newspaper editor Wosenseged GebreKidan has been taken to the notorious Kality prison today after he told the court that he doesn’t have 3,000 birr to pay for bail.