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Gospel singer posed as U.S. fighter pilot, oil executive and grieving widower on match.com to steal £120,000 from lonely women

  • Mr Ajayi, 31, was jailed for six-and-a-half years after preying on four single women using the popular website
  • The conman sent email threats, purportedly from a captor, claiming he had been kidnapped and would be killed unless a ransom was paid
  • His victims, who all live in the U.S and Canada, were 'completely taken in' by his lies

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Jailed: Oluwamayola Ajayi, pictured, conned a series of single women out of more than £120,000 using dating website match.com

An acclaimed gospel singer who used a dating site to steal more than £120,000 from lonely women by posing as a pilot, oil executive and grieving widower has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Conman Oluwamayola Ajayi, 31, preyed on four single women on popular dating website Match.com using a series of aliases and outlandish stories to fleece them of their cash.

He even sent email threats, purportedly from a captor, claiming he had been kidnapped and would be killed if a ransom was not paid.

Ajayi, who was nominated for best international act at the 2011 Gospel Music Awards under his stage name MaioJoe, was jailed for conspiracy to defraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court with Judge Sarah Paneth saying that it was clear he intended to defraud his victims 'for much more money' than he did.

He blew all the money on a luxury lifestyle, including a holiday to South Africa.

Judge Paneth added: 'This was not money these women had to spare, it was money they needed back urgently.

'Having spent all of their money you pursued them for more by saying you would be killed if they did not pay.'

The court heard how he gained the women’s trust before persuading them to hand over their savings to fund business enterprises insisting the cash would be repaid.

His victims, who all live in America and Canada, were ‘completely taken in’ by his elaborate lies.

They were left humiliated and some were financially ruined by the scam, which ran between November 2009 and August 2010.

One victim handed over more than $125,000 (now £78,662) from her late husband’s life savings and dead mother’s estate, which she had earmarked for retirement.

Another disabled woman from Nova Scotia was duped into giving Ajayi almost $38,000 (£23,913) after he pretended to be Travis David McFly, a United States Airforce pilot serving in Iraq.

Prosecutor Markus Rickard said: ‘He told a story to her about some gold bars he had found and that he wanted to get them out of Iraq so they could secure their financial future.

‘This inevitably led to the woman having supply money via an intermediary in London, to enable the gold bars to be taken from Iraq.

‘She was completely taken in by him and intended to spend the rest of her life with him.

‘At one point, she arranged to meet him at an airport and waited for five hours for him, but he did not turn up.

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Conned: the women who were fleeced by Ajayi all used the popular dating website match.com

‘This has left her flat broke and deeply embarrassed.’

Ajayi pocketed around $30,000 (£18,873) from another internet lover, leaving her in financial dire straits.

The singer also posed as a project manager in the oil and gas industry to fleece $7,000 (£4,404) from his final victim, telling her he needed the cash for expenses including a ‘Crude Oil Lifting Licence’.

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Conman: Ajayi, pictured, used a string of identities including posing as a pilot, oil executive and grieving widower to fleece four women out of their cash

He told all but one of the women that he was a white widower with children from Britain called Mark West, who was currently living in the US.

Ajayi funnelled his ill-gotten gains through false bank accounts, mainly using the fictional identity of Jose Fernando Rodrigues-Guedes.

Mr Rickard added: ‘The defendant systematically and repeatedly misrepresented himself to lonely females using the internet and cheated them out of £120,000 from November 2009 until August 2010.

‘The victims of his deceptions have been left embarrassed and fearful and they have all suffered substantial financial loss or ruin.’

Ajayi was arrested last August at the home he shares with his wife in Chadwell Heath, Essex.

During interview in a prepared statement, he insisted one of his victims was the girlfriend of a friend who owed him money.

He claimed he used an account in the name of Rodrigues-Guedes as he did not have one in his own name.

The computer equipment on which police found scores of emails with money transfers, credit card details, bank statements, personal information and photographs belonged to the ‘real’ Rodrigues-Guedes, Ajayi claimed.

But Rodrigues-Guedes has never been found, prompting police to believe he is simply an identity dreamed up by Ajayi to carry out his con.

Ajayi denied conspiracy to defraud, fraud, concealing criminal property, using criminal property and two counts of possessing articles for use in frauds.

He was unanimously convicted by a jury on all counts after a trial after admitting a single count of possessing a false identity document with intent.

A spokesman for match.com today urged users to follow its safety guidelines when online dating.

He said: 'Sadly the tiny minority of people who try to exploit others is not confined to dating sites or even the internet, it’s across all walks of life.

'We urge our members to follow the safe dating guidance we provide across our site and via email when meeting new people, whether that’s online, through friends or in a bar.

'Most importantly requests for money or financial assistance are not acceptable.

'You should never send money to anyone you meet online; just as you would never give money to someone you recently met in a pub or cafe.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz2CkK8McyM

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He told all but one of the women that he was a white widower with children from Britain called Mark West, who was currently living in the US.

Lol uncle was in with the long con.

But I guess targeting women of a certain age and having the time and patience means these sort of things will happen a lot of these women would think nothing of this guy not having a social media profile or even coming onto a webcam to talk.

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UBS trader facing years in prison after being found guilty of UK's biggest-ever fraud and losing Swiss bank £1.4bn

  • Kweku Adoboli found guilty of second fraud charge by majority jury verdict at Southwark Crown Court today
  • Jury clear him of four further false accounting charges
  • Considered one of the UBS's 'rising stars' before losses were revealed
  • Crown Prosecution Service said 'dishonesty was at the heart' of the fraud
  • Detective leading investigation said Adoboli was one of the most sophisticated fraudsters he has seen

By Becky Evans

PUBLISHED: 11:43, 20 November 2012 | UPDATED: 14:13, 20 November 2012

A UBS trader is today facing years in prison after being found guilty of the UK's biggest ever fraud when he lost £1.4bn for his Swiss employer.

Former public schoolboy Kweku Adoboli, 32, was

'a gamble or two away from destroying Switzerland's largest bank for his own gain', Southwark Crown Court heard.

At one point during his run of losses, rising star City trader Kweku Adoboli, 32, stood to run up losses of $12 billion (£7.5 billion) for UBS.

He was today found guilty of two counts of fraud but cleared of a further four counts of false accounting.

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Guilty: Kweku Adoboli, pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court this morning, has been convicted of two counts of fraud

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Historic: Kweku Adoboli, 32, pictured last year, has been found guilty of the UK's largest ever fraud

Detective Chief Inspector Perry Stokes, who led the probe into what Adoboli had done, said the he was one of the most sophisticated fraudsters he had come across.

Ghanaian-born Adoboli exceeded his multimillion-pound trading limits and failed to hedge trades, allegedly faking records to cover his tracks at the Swiss bank's London office.

He admitted the losses but claimed he was pressured by staff to take risks, culminating in bad deals which wiped £2.8 billion off the bank's share value when they were discovered.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court, in London, convicted him of one count of fraud linked to the £1.4 billion loss.

Adoboli was later found guilty by a majority verdict of a second fraud charge but acquitted of the four other outstanding false accounting charges between October 2008 and September last year.

Trial judge Mr Justice Keith gave the jury a majority verdict direction this morning, saying they could deliver a 9-1 verdict on the remaining five charges.

More...

The jury has been reduced to five men and five women after two jurors were discharged.

Adoboli joined UBS as a graduate trainee in 2003 and, at the time of the fraud, worked for its global synthetic equities division, buying and selling exchange traded funds (ETFs), which track different types of stocks, bonds or commodities such as metals.

The prosecution argued that he was a gambler who believed he had the 'magic touch'.

But, giving evidence, he said everything he had done was aimed at benefiting the bank, where he viewed his colleagues as 'family'.

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Fraud: Adoboli's bad deals wiped £2.8 billion of UBS's share value when they were discovered

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Rising star: Adoboli joined UBS as a graduate trainee in 2003 and, at the time of the fraud, worked for its global synthetic equities division

Adoboli said he had 'lost control in the maelstrom of the financial crisis', and was doing well until he changed from a conservative 'bearish' position to an aggressive 'bullish' stance under pressure from senior managers.

He told the jury that staff were encouraged to take risks until they got 'a slap on the back of the wrist'.

But the jury rejected this defence after deliberating since Wednesday afternoon last week.

Mr Justice Keith adjourned sentencing until this afternoon.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC said that Crown would not be pursuing confiscation proceedings in the case, nor would there be any application for compensation.

This afternoon, Andrew Penhale, deputy head of fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service, said the amount of money involved was 'staggering'.

He said: 'Behind all the technical financial jargon in this case, the question for the jury was whether Kweku Adoboli had acted dishonestly, in causing a loss to the bank of $2.3bn. He did so, by breaking the rules, covering up and lying. In any business context, his actions amounted to fraud, pure and simple.

'The amount of money involved was staggering, impacting hugely on the bank but also on their employees, shareholders and investors. This was not a victimless crime.

'The CPS Central Fraud Division are pleased to have brought this case so quickly to conclusion, with the trial opening one year to the day after the case was reported to City of London Police. This is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the whole prosecution team.

'People who commit fraud, in any walk of life, should know that the scale and technicality of a case is no barrier to bringing it to justice. At the heart of any complex fraud is a simple notion of dishonesty which is something that we can all understand.'

DCI Stokes said Adoboli was a 'rogue employee in a position of trust' and this made his reckless trades extremely difficult to detect.

The City of London Police officer said: 'When you've got a rogue employee in a position of trust it's very difficult when they are intent on breaking the rules to identify what they are doing. As an organisation you put your trust in your employee and if you get a rogue it's very difficult to detect.

'Adoboli was a sophisticated fraudster. He was one of the most accomplished fraudsters that I've seen in my time investigating serious fraud.

'This isn't someone who has made a mistake in the course of his business, this is someone who has chosen the path that they have gone down. If you're a bad trader, you're a bad trader. He has gone down a different path and he has lied to colleagues.'

Adoboli wanted to be "a star trader" at the Swiss bank, however instead he took too many risks and ended up causing devastating losses of £1.4 billion.

Mr Stokes said: 'He did this by conducting unauthorised trades, by exceeding his trading limits by astronomical amounts, inventing fictitious deals to conceal his activity and lying to his bosses to cover his tracks.

'His motive was to be known as a star trader at UBS. To increase his bonus, his status, his job prospects and his ego.'

Prosecutors said Adoboli was a rogue trader who carried out unauthorised trades in an attempt to boost the bank's profits and the size of his bonuses.

Mr Stokes said: 'He was a rogue trader who committed systematic unauthorised trading and hid this activity through various concealment mechanisms.

'When challenged by colleagues within UBS, he tried to cover his tracks and lied about the true nature of his activity.

'He was trusted. He abused that trust. He lied and cheated to his colleagues but eventually justice caught up with him.

'This case should serve as a warning to others working within the financial sector, others who consider treading a similar path to Adoboli, they can expect exactly the same fate.'

City of London Police released audio recordings of uncomfortable phone calls from colleagues querying why the books did not balance.

One was a call Adoboli received just before he walked out of UBS and sent an email to colleagues detailing what he had done.

In his first two police interviews Adoboli remained completely silent, not even giving the standard "no comment" answer to questions.

Police used a volunteer with knowledge of City trading to help them untangle his web of unauthorised activity, and then faced the challenge of presenting the complex case to jurors.

Head of fraud for the Crown Prosecution Service Sue Patten said: 'An investment bank trading floor is not an environment whose jargon and concepts many of us are particularly familiar with, but obviously at the heart of a fraud is the concept of dishonesty which all of us understand and we all understand the concept of lies and falsehoods.

'When presenting this case it was important to peel away the layers of jargon and enable the court to consider the facts.'

Fallen star: How the promising career of Kweku Adoboli turned to dust

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Fallen star: Kweko Adoboli, pictured in a mug shot released by City of London Police, was today convicted of the biggest fraud in British history

Former public school boy Kweku Adoboli was seen as a 'rising star' at UBS but his apparent success masked a fascination with gambling that poisoned his professional and personal life.

The 32-year-old worked his way through the ranks at the Swiss bank and was popular and well-respected among colleagues, before the massive losses that he had caused were revealed.

As well as taking risks at work, he was involved in spread-betting, and in one year personally lost £123,000 - nearly all of his disposable income.

Detective Chief Inspector Perry Stokes, of City of London Police, said: 'He was a hard worker, he spent a lot of hours working, but we know a lot of that was spent on covering up his fictitious trades and his activity.

'We know about his interest in spread-betting so a lot of his income was going on that.

'Before this broke he was well-liked at UBS, he was respected.

'He was a star, he was one of their rising stars.He believed he was going to reach the heights within UBS and his colleagues thought the same.

'His supervisors, seniors, managers, they all saw him as one for the future.

'But what is clear in the evidence we uncovered is if you peel back the layers and the behaviour back to 2008, he was breaking the rules.

'He was hiding losses and he was masking risks to the bank.

'So a lot of the good views that colleagues and managers had of him, they were all based on lies.'

Ghanaian-born Adoboli spent time in Israel and Syria as a child before coming to the UK and attending public school in West Yorkshire.He went on to study chemical engineering at Nottingham University in 2000.

In 2003, he graduated in e-commerce and digital business studies. From July 1 to September 7, 2002, he completed an internship at UBS during his summer holiday, and was then given a job at the bank as a graduate trainee in September 2003.

Adoboli became a trader in December 2005, was promoted to associate director in March 2008 and then director in March 2010.

His salary rose dramatically as his career progressed.

In 2007 he earned £40,000 and a bonus of £55,000; in 2008 he earned £50,000 and a bonus of £15,000.

Then in 2009 he earned £100,000 with a £95,000 bonus; and in 2010 his salary was £110,000 and his bonus was £250,000.

Prosecutors claimed that by working his way up from the back office, which took care of making sure that the risks of trades were managed and that the books balance, Adoboli gained an intimate knowledge of the bank's internal systems.

This meant that he could deliberately avoid sparking any alarm among his colleagues.

The 32-year-old broke down in tears as he gave evidence, telling of gruelling hours and the pressure upon him and colleague John Hughes, 25.

The pair worked on the Exchange Traded Funds desk, and were in charge of a portfolio of companies with assets of $50 billion (£31.1 billion). Their daily trading limit was $100 million.

Adoboli told jurors: 'Our book was massive. A tiny mistake led to huge losses. We were these two kids trying to make it work.'

He missed his grandmother's funeral as he struggled with the long hours and tried to claw back losses.

Adoboli, whose father was present in court throughout the trial, also said the stress caused as the losses piled up nearly destroyed his relationship with his girlfriend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Millions wiped off UBS share price: The man who nearly brought down Switzerland's largest bank

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Prison: Kweku Adoboli, 32, pictured last year, is facing jail

UBS saw billions wiped off its share price as it found itself at the centre of the UK's biggest ever banking fraud.

The bank was at one point at risk of losing £7.4 billion because of Kweku Adoboli's actions, prosecutors said.

Sasha Wass QC told jurors that he was 'a gamble or two away from destroying Switzerland's largest bank for his own gain'.

The £1.4 billion loss he caused - revealed when Adoboli sent a bombshell email to colleagues - wiped around 10% or £2.8 billion off UBS' share price.

A day after the massive losses were revealed, the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority launched an investigation into what had happened.

The FSA said the inquiry would look at the details of the unauthorised trading, the apparent control failures which allowed it to go undetected, and the overall strengths of UBS' systems to prevent fraud.

UBS revealed that 100 investigators had been involved in the probe over an eight-month period.

It emerged during evidence that the inquiry had also uncovered three unrelated incidents of unauthorised trading at UBS, not involving substantial losses, that led to two workers being sacked.

The bank said that senior management had taken action 30 minutes after they were alerted to what Adoboli had done.

He was called back to the office and spoken to for several hours by bank staff before police were called in.

UBS went public on September 15 - the day after Adoboli revealed what he had done - declaring a loss of around two billion US dollars, which was later increased to 2.3 billion.

By the close of business the next day, it said it had closed out all the market risk and that no clients were affected.

The Board of Directors set up a committee to investigate what had happened, and in the aftermath Group Chief Executive Officer Oswald Grubel, and the co-heads of UBS' Equities business, all resigned.

In 2011, the bonus pool for the investment bank was down by 60%.

Shortly before the start of the trial, chief executive Sergio Ermotti sent out an internal message to staff, also published on the bank's website, that stressed that internal controls had been tightened.

He admitted that staff might be 'embarrassed' by what had happened.

Mr Ermotti said: 'It is important to note that UBS is not a party in the trial, and there is only one defendant in the dock.

'However, given how serious the consequences of the incident were, we must assume that UBS's culture and practices will be examined during the course of the trial. This is, to a certain extent, understandable.

'As uncomfortable as the entire trial will be for UBS, it will show us what the consequences are when misconduct occurs or when individuals do not take their responsibilities seriously.

'Misconduct also includes turning a blind eye, that is, failing to intervene when there are irregularities or failing to escalate concerns, however minor these may seem. Such behaviour is unacceptable.

'Amidst all the progress that we have made since this incident, we must never forget that our reputation is more important than anything else and that every one of us is a guardian of that reputation.'

BOMBSHELL EMAIL REVEALED BIG LOSSES

Here is the text of the bombshell email Kweku Adoboli sent to chartered accountant William Steward revealing the £1.4 billion losses he had caused.

Dear Will,

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Stress and disappointment: Adoboli, pictured, revealed the extent of the losses over email

It is with great stress and disappointment that I write this mail.

First of all the ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) trades that you see on the ledger are not trades that I have done with a counterparty as I previously described.

I used the bookings as a way to suppress the PnL (profit and loss) losses that I have accrued through off book trades that I made.

Those trades were previously profit making, became loss making as the market sold off aggressively through the aggressive sell off days of July and early August.

Initially, I had been short futures through June and those lost money when the first Greek confidence vote went through in mid June. In order to try and make the money back I flipped the trade long through the rally.

Although I had a couple of opportunities to unwind the long trade for a negligible loss, I did not move quickly enough for the market weakness on the back of the first back macro data and then an escalation Eurozone crisis cost me the losses you will see when the ETF bookings are cancelled.

The aim had been to try and make the money back before the September expiry date came through but I clearly failed.

These are still live trades on the book that will need to be unwound. Namely a short position in DAX futures (which had been rolled to December expiry) and a short position in S and P 500 futures that are due to expire on Friday.

I have now left the office for the sake of discretion. I will need to come back in to discuss the positions and explain face to face, but for reasons that are obvious, I did not think it wise to stay on the desk this afternoon.

I will expect that questions will be asked as to why nobody else was aware of these trades. The reality is that I have always maintained that these were EFP (Exchange for Physical) trades to the member of my team, BUC, trade support and John Di Bacco (Adoboli's manager).

I take full responsibility for my actions and the s*** storm that will now ensue. I am deeply sorry to have left this mess for everyone and to have put my bank and my colleagues at risk.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2235718/UBS-trader-Kweku-Adoboli-facing-years-prison-guilty-UKs-biggest-fraud-losing-Swiss-bank-1-4bn.html#ixzz2Cm0pr3hy

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