EFCC smashes N2b Ponzi scheme in Port Harcourt, owner on the run

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Port Harcourt’s Zonal Office have arrested 19 staff of a fake investment company floating an alleged Ponzi Scheme that has defrauded members of the public to the tune of N2 billion.

The Chairman of the company, Neenwi Swanu is on the run.

The company, Bluekey Investment Club, operating from Sonia Mall, 42 Woji Road, YKC Junction, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission( CAC) as a software development and general contracting firm, but veered into an interest-yielding Ponzi Scheme, promising to the gullible, ten percent (10%) weekly returns on investment over six Months.

Neenwi Swanu, CEO of Blue Key Investment Club

The Scheme also promised total returns of invested capital after six Months.

Nineteen staff of the company were rounded up on Friday, August 30, 2019 in Port Harcourt.

Among them are five Principal Officers: Princess Tsaroigbara, who is the Public Relations Officer, Onwusa Frances Chineze, Accountant); Naabe Gunugu, Payment Confirmation Staff and Tambari Success, Customer Service officer.

Anorue Maureen, the Receptionist, was also arrested.

Princess Tsaroigbara, Public Relations Officer ( PRO) of the Company told interrogators that her company was into “Digital Financial and other Technological Services” and was not sure if the company was fully registered with the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Scores of defrauded customers thronged the premises of the Company seeking the intervention of the EFCC.

Items recovered from the company are computer units and a sum of N459, 300( Four Hundred and Fifty Nine Thousand, Three Hundred Naira only).

The suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

Girl, 16, Jailed For Life For Thinking Humans Are Robots And As Such killing Katie Rough, 7

A teenage girl has been given a life sentence for manslaughter for killing seven-year-old Katie Rough in a park in York.

The judge ordered the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to be detained for a minimum of five years in what he described as a "truly exceptional case".

Katie died after she was smothered by the teen and then slashed with a Stanley knife in a park in York on 9 January.

The teenager - who was 15 at the time of the attack - admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility at a previous hearing, and appeared by video link at Leeds Crown Court for sentencing as Katie's family looked on.

She clutched a soft toy throughout the hearing, and sat with her head down.

Mr Justice Soole told her: "The gravity of the offence of killing a small child speaks for itself. The level of danger to the public is high.

"In the circumstances of your continuing silence, the critical question is whether there is any reliable estimate as to how long that danger will continue."

Katie's family said in a statement: "Today is the end of a process and that is a relief, but it's not the end of our story.

"Our story is about a loving home and family that was torn apart on the day we lost our daughter.

Image:Katie Rough was seven when she was killed

"Our story goes on into the future, where our home feels very empty, but we will keep going for the sake of our other children and our grandson.

"Our hopes for the future are for a loving and safe home for our family, and we hope we will now find the privacy for that to happen."

Katie was found on a playing field with two severe cuts to her neck and chest, but the prosecutor said a post-mortem showed neither caused her death and that the little girl was smothered before the cuts were made.

Police recovered items from the scene and from the teenager's home, including drawings of stick men depicting killing and death.

Books, violent comics and a Simba toy that had its ears cut off and stuffed into its stomach were found in the teenager's bedroom.

Prosecutors said at earlier hearings that the teenager was given medication for anxiety and depression, and had suffered from delusions during 2016.

They said the girl had talked of being convinced that people "weren't human and were robots".

The judge was told she may have been trying to prove Katie was not a robot as she had "irrational beliefs".

"This investigation has been one of the most tragic and challenging I have ever dealt with in my career as a police officer," said DCI Andrea Kell, from North Yorkshire Police.

"There are no positive results from cases such as these. Regardless of the conviction and the sentence, nothing will ever replace the loss of Katie."

Colorado Child Sex Trafficker Bangs 472 Years in Prison

A convicted child sex trafficker in Colorado will spend the rest of his life in prison, and then some, after receiving the longest sentence for a human trafficking case in U.S. history on Tuesday.

Brock Franklin, 31, was sentenced to 472 years in prison for operating a prostitution ring that preyed on young girls and women.

Franklin was found guilty on 30 counts including human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, child prostitution, and kidnapping by an Arapahoe County jury in March as reported.

Brock Franklin, 31, was sentenced to 472 years in prison on Tuesday.  

He was originally indicted by a grand jury in 2015. Prosecutors said he used drugs and violence to control young girls and routinely forced them to have sex with him, and sold their services online. 

"A 400 year sentence sends a strong message across the country that we're not going to tolerate this kind of violence to women and vulnerable populations," Janet Drake with the Colorado Attorney General's office said.

Brehannah Leary, one of Franklin's victims, said he "deserves every single minute in those walls."  

The crimes took place at various hotels across the greater Denver metro areas.

“I can’t begin to even explain what he did to my life,” Brehannah Leary, one of Franklin's victims, told the court.

“Reading it today, and speaking and actually saying how I felt, and him having hearing and have to sit there and listen and listen to me, that brought me so much joy and that’s why I came today,” she said.

Franklin's defense team originally asked for the minimum sentence of 96 years behind bars, but victims and prosecutors pushed for more.

“He deserves every single minute in those walls,” Leary said.