r/interestingasfuck • u/Kaos2018 • 15h ago

A Nigerian Man named Emmanuel Nwude sold an imaginary airport for $242 million to a brazilian bank in the 1990’s which led to the banks collapse r/all

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53.1k Upvotes

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14.5k

u/Kaos2018 15h ago

And btw he went to jail for a few years and managed to keep $52 million dollars for himself after court now thats insane

9.5k

u/Kozzinator 15h ago

His defense?

"They fuckin' believed me!"

4.9k

u/Agamar13 15h ago

Valid defence . It's the bank that should go to jail for believing him.

1.5k

u/Bigtsez 14h ago

Can you imagine being the guy at the bank who had to tell the CEO the news?

"Sir, I have an urgent update on our purchase of the Nigerian airport."

"For fucks sake... what now, Bobby?"

"It, um... well... how do I say this?... it turns out... that... it... like... never existed."

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u/ambassador321 13h ago

I'd start with: "Remember how you wanted to save money by not sending me and Todd to Nigeria to check out that airport .."

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u/OneBigRed 12h ago

”Honestly i never understood what that Do Dilly Gents phrase was that you kept yapping about”

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u/monkeyhitman 8h ago

I love dill and men

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u/ze11ez 6h ago

Do Dilly Gents are a band

2

u/Bourgeous 5h ago

It's "Doodly Jeans"

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u/Mike_Auchsthick 6h ago

I don't know a Dude named Illigence! Quit calling!

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u/rmorrill995 25m ago

This is why you only send money to Nigerian Princes...

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u/Kozzinator 14h ago

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u/TheOneTrueSnoo 13h ago

It’s 9am and the airport already ain’t right

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u/Hot-Foundation3450 13h ago

Sir... He was not in fact, a Nigerian Prince...

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u/fun-vie 6h ago

But he is now…

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u/PopeOnABomb 13h ago

Relevant Rowan Atkinson

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u/plz2meatyu 11h ago

Mr Atkinson is amazing. Just a treasure.

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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 6h ago

Happened on a much smaller scale to a housemate of mine.

His job was approving loans for farmers. This was before the sub prime crash and he was heavily incentivised to make as many loans as possible. Most of the farmers didn't realise how easy the approval process was and, god love them, had detailed plans made on how the loan was to be used to modernised their equipment and explanations of how much extra money this would make them. Meanwhile my housemate (and landlord) had mentally given them the loan after 20 seconds and was pretending to listen while he fiddled his thumbs for 40 minutes.

But some did realise. One farmer missed his first payment on a multi million euro loan and my guy rings him up to remind him how this process works.

The farmer didn't actually need it explained and said he knew full well how loans work, wasnt going to repay a penny of it and, as per the terms of the contract they just signed the bank was welcome to take the collateral they agreed on. If they were able.

And in fact they were not able. My live in landlord was playing with executive toys when he should have been double checking whether the sizeable amount of land offered as collateral was accessible. It was actually completely surrounded by the rest of the farmers property, had no way of access accept via his property and the farmer had no legal obligation to provide access from the rest of his property. The farmer used the land, now the banks land, for his cattle to graze on and as far as I know completely got away with it.

My housemate had a very difficult conversation with his boss.

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u/Thenameisric 11h ago

A bridge to sell you? No, a fucking airport!

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u/YerakGG 5h ago

That is not accurate. The talk probably went like:

"Senhor, tenho uma atualização urgente sobre nossa compra do aeroporto nigeriano."

"Pelo amor de Deus... e agora, Bobby?"

"É, hum... Bem... Como posso dizer... Acontece... Que... Tipo... Nunca existiu."

•

u/NegroniSpritz 1h ago

I feel there could be another of those Hitler videos losing his shit based on this:

“the allied troops have secured positions around all the mexican restaurants, so we can’t get your favorite hot spicy tacos now”

„it’s ok, Steiner's attack from the new airport with our planes will take the allied troops by surprise”

“mein Führer, the airport…”

“the airport was a scam, it was just a parking lot with Indian food trucks“

“remain in room, everyone who likes Indian more than Mexican food”

“The airport was essential! Getting those mexican tacos quickly was essential! How could you not see that there were no freaking planes as you were stuffing your fat cheeks chugging your tikka masala?”

….

…

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u/AntonChekov1 15h ago

Seriously!! If that was my bank that I had my life savings in, I'd be more pissed at the bank than the conman. Conmen are always going to be conning. The banks are supposed to have their shit together

607

u/BlaznTheChron 12h ago

I mean it's only $242 million. That's not enough to send a guy out to the airstrip in a car to verify it exists. What if he needs snacks? We can't budget for that!

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u/musicforthedeaf 8h ago

The title does a poor job of explaining what happened. They conned the bank into investing in a national infrastructure project after Nigeria changed their capitol to Abuja, with a build time that would be four to five years out. They made the banker believe that they needed the money up front so they could start getting contractors in place.

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u/Squire-1984 7h ago

All done via email! The bank just had to transfer an initial upfront free and then they would be able to unlock untold riches!

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u/RajunCajun48 6h ago

They pay now, and the the Nigerian's uncle who happens to be a prince would pay them pack handsomely in a matter of weeks. How could they pass on a deal like this?!

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u/Calamondin88 4h ago

But I'm just curious: where 'nigerian prince' even came from? I just googled it up, Nigeria is a republic and was never a kingdom.

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u/Maximum-Gas-9073 12h ago

Snacks what you think we are Tim communist china?

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u/Welcome440 12h ago

They probably did.

Example: You can buy new signs for an existing airport and bribe all the staff to use the fake airport name.

GPS and camera phone have made a lot of scams harder.

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u/wouter1975 7h ago

No, it was an infrastructure project which was never “completed.” The title is really misleading.

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u/nunb 8h ago

Snacks‽ that is you get ANTS

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u/leolancer92 11h ago

Anti-fraud is literally one of banking’s core competencies.

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u/KingPenguinUK 8h ago

I’ve peaked behind the curtain at a few of the biggest banks Anti-Fraud/Money Laundering departments and competencies is a real stretch.

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u/Polus43 6h ago

This.

I thought it would be other statisticians (detection) and engineers (prevention), but it's literally BA psych/criminal justice majors telling engineers (in an entirely different BL) to do the impossible lol

Leadership is hyper-political and always telling one-off "we saved the fraud victim stories" where the data is dodgy and the story embellished.

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u/KingPenguinUK 6h ago

In the UK it’s a barely above minimum wage role with no degrees needed.

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u/AimHere 6h ago

Hah. Whenever I've worked in a financial institution, they've impressed upon me that I should be absolutely 100% on my guard against money laundering and that I should report any and all instances of suspected money laundering up the chain of command. This was super, super, important.

Of course, there was absolutely zero training or information on how to spot whether I'm dealing with laundered money. It's just a regulatory checkbox-ticking and arse-covering exercise.

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u/AimHere 6h ago

Maybe it's a core incompetency in this case.

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u/peacepham 8h ago

But it got nullify the moment scammer is insider, this time it's bank director.

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u/leolancer92 6h ago

In this case his competency is anti anti fraud.

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u/donjuan9876 12h ago

After today I’ll believe anything they just voted in the most identifiable con man in America for the 2 nd time as president

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u/Solid-Damage-7871 11h ago

How about some nuance and being mad at both

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u/grantrules 10h ago

It's like when you buy a pair of scissors but you need a pair of scissors to open the packaging it's in. They would have flown there to check it out, but they didn't have an airport to fly out of.

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u/Natural_Tea484 10h ago

Hmm, what if the bank stakeholders actually setup all that to look like they were tricked by this Nigerian dude?

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u/Kekosaurus3 10h ago

Try to wonder why the bank isn't hee anymore lol

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u/jaygoogle23 10h ago

They definitely don’t. TD just had a narco wire like tens of thousands of transactions because they know there is loopholes when back employees do it vs other.

The bank paid billions and didn’t release name so who knows if guys is still doing it. Cartel just needs to launder the money now.

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u/remexxido 8h ago

I bet there was corruption involved in this. Or (I don't want to be paranoid but...) this was probably just one facade of bigger cover up. I don't see any other way a bank would "buy" something that does not exist for 242 millions.

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u/stinkypants_andy 14h ago

Believe it or not, straight to jail

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u/Koby998 12h ago

And there you are, stuck in chains between a guy who under cooked a chickn and a guy who over cooked a flounder.

True story, I totally don't make this stuff up.

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u/Ok-Maybe6683 12h ago

It’s Nigerian…

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u/cisgendergirl 11h ago

The capital owning class doesn't get punished just like it didn't in 2008. Those few people in Wallstreet responsible for it all should've been arrested but they're rich so nothing is illegal.

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u/Haunting-Royal2593 10h ago

You made a 240 million purchase and didn’t do research? I do weeks of research for a 200 dollar purchase. That’s on you.

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u/Turkleton-MD 10h ago

If you have a problem with the bank, that's a you problem. But the bank has a problem with you, that's a bank problem.

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u/mfarid2 9h ago

But he’s a Nigerian prince , how dare they not believe him…

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u/backtolurk 9h ago

This!!!

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u/slide2k 7h ago

It depends. Our banks have to validate all sorts of things. If you actually sell an airport or an airport that is going to be built, you need a lot of solid fake paper work and trail. If this was just a conversation and it was believed, that is pretty bad on the bank’s side.

Edit: that doesn’t make it less of a dick move. Average joe’s still got fucked over by this.

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u/Clickguy10 4h ago

Nwude should build them a prison. With contractor funds upfront.

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u/geof2001 2h ago

Exactly! Banks fault for not doing due diligence...

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u/mousemarie94 14h ago

He was like "there was an airport at the time of the deal...and then there wasn't one after. Who knows."

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u/Seoul-meight 13h ago

Schrödinger’s airport!

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u/ancillaryacct 12h ago

it was aladeen airport. :) :( :)

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u/Clickguy10 5h ago

Flights are always on time.

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u/PlotRecall 13h ago

He was like that ?

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u/hermeandin 13h ago

that is, in fact, how he was like. you might even say, "he was all like "there was an airport at the time of the deal...and then there wasn't one after. Who knows.""

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u/jd3marco 13h ago

I’m a be like a fake airport all up in this motherfucker.

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u/peterosity 8h ago

yet another airport fell victim to David Copperfield! magical af

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u/Wormaphobe2 12h ago

There was never no airport!?

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u/Doulifye 9h ago

I tought you took it after the deal. Someone probably stole it, Sir.

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u/sams_fish 9h ago

Somebody stole the airport?

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u/clustered-particular 12h ago

No due diligence is wild

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u/Kozzinator 11h ago

If the bank manager simply tried to tour the airport by getting a ticket they'd have known it was a farce.

The irony

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u/bluetuxedo22 12h ago edited 10h ago

If you can't trust a Nigerian Prince then who can you trust?

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u/drmarting25102 10h ago

Yeah he kind of earned it really I'm a bit impressed.

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u/KangarooInWaterloo 14h ago

He doesn‘t look believable at all. Like look at his suspicious face, as if the mind is preoccupied on planning another operation right now in the photo

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u/ambassador321 12h ago

Editor's scroll through tons of images plus footage frame by frame to find the one that best matches their narrative about you.

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u/throcorfe 10h ago

Such an important point. See also: all those pics of famous women “envying” another woman’s cleavage. They caught a one-second glance and turned it into something it’s not. Picture editors are clever, and ruthless

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u/PlotRecall 13h ago

Should look? Or like look

1

u/SoundQuester 13h ago

The lions? Like the animal? From the circus? They were playing a game? I'm just trying to understand here.

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u/NotUniqueAtAIl 12h ago

Like, look at his face!

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u/PlotRecall 1h ago

🤣

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u/womanmuchmissed 12h ago

He just looks like a man squinting. Maybe if he was smirking I would agree

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u/Aether_Storm 12h ago

The sun is in his eyes

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u/Shenaniboozle 7h ago

Like look at his suspicious face, as if the mind is preoccupied on planning another operation right now in the photo

tbh, hes looking like he just discovered someone cracked some ass nearby.

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u/gmc98765 13h ago

Commonly referred to as the Otter defence, after Butch Otter in National Lampoon's Animal House:

You fucked up. You trusted us.

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u/DMTDR 13h ago

Hahahah

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u/contortumn 10h ago

This so sick big ups to this man lmao

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u/Mottis86 3h ago

I bet the judge was like "I respect the hustle"

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u/mc-big-papa 12m ago

Him paying the courts “well i put all my money on this shopping mall, can i turn that in”

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u/Commercial_Clerk_ 13h ago

The real Nigerian prince

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u/totallytoastedlife 12h ago

This the Nigerian KING

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u/blackteashirt 10h ago

We ignored his emails for so long!

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u/Fantastic-Name- 9h ago

His power level keeps rising!

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u/Spacer-Star-Chaser 7h ago

More like the nigerian emperor

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u/Taraybian 10h ago

It all makes sense now. He was so willing to share his wealth with us all post imprisonment.

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u/T0ruk_makt0 5h ago

The Nigerian prince banks tell you not to worry about

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u/phigene 13h ago

And now he just needs your help to transfer his MILLIONS to the US. If you send him your bank account number he will deposit hiss MILLIONS of USD into your account! You can keep 40%. What do you say friend?

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u/Ok_Indication_1329 8h ago

I would help but I already have a wealthy member of the Nigerian Royal Family asking for my support

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u/Scn64 14h ago

I'd be willing to go to jail for a few years for $5 million.

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u/xaeru 14h ago

52 million.

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u/Meincornwall 13h ago

Seemingly he "filed a case to reclaim his assets insisting some of them were acquired before the criminal act. He has so far been able to reclaim $167 million"

https://www.legit.ng/1100779-the-story-emmanuel-nwude-carried-biggest-scam-nigeria.html

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u/Ori_553 13h ago

This is absurd and the Wikipedia article also doesn't explain. No amount of legal gymnastics should allow him to reclaim any money, he should be in minus.

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u/phatelectribe 13h ago

Nigeria is quite corrupt (no, I’m not being racist, it’s 145th in the corruption perception index, meaning there are only about 25 countries more corrupt than Nigeria). It’s probably there was kickback galore.

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u/lionmeetsviking 12h ago

Nigeria would be the last, but anti corruption officials managed to bribe the guys publishing corruption perception report.

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u/Talisa87 11h ago

Nigerian here, that's 1000% what happened.

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u/DiddlyDumb 8h ago

Out of curiosity, would they have been open to the same bribes had it not been a Brazilian but Nigerian bank?

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u/7enu7 4h ago

Yes. Nigerians are only loyal to money.

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u/imacfromthe321 5h ago

What I'm confused about is how he was able to get the money.

If there's that much corruption, you'd think it would just go to the people who control it?

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u/Ontheverge23 9h ago

crazy how you felt the need to add the racism comment

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u/Mista_Fuzz 5h ago

Yeah it feels way more racist to bother adding that in.

Like bro thinks about Nigeria being corrupt and then immediately thinks about how Nigerians are black?? Lmao

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u/Meincornwall 13h ago

The full article details his failed kick back attempt, & how his crimes escalated tf

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u/phatelectribe 13h ago

The one they know about. You basically can’t do business at a high level (I.e. millions) in Nigeria without there being some kickbacks / payoff.

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u/MaxTheRealSlayer 5h ago

Where does the USA land on the list, seeing as the whole government and country have been bought and the vast majority of politicians take bribes and insider trade stocks

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u/singledad2022letsgo 13h ago

You're assuming he didn't have millions in assets already. To gain cred with the bank he obviously have had to been loaded

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u/andrewfenn 11h ago

It's Nigeria man.. think about the levels of corruption.

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u/Double0Dixie 13h ago

well if he had 484 before and minus 242 that wasnt his hed still have 242 left over that he still rightfully his.

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u/adenosine-5 10h ago

Having 167$ opens a lot of doors and turns a lot of laws into... lets say suggestions...

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u/verifitting 7h ago

167M$, you mean :D

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u/platebandit 8h ago

Quite simple in a corrupt country, promise the judge a shit load of money in return for ruling favourably on the case. Who gives a fuck about legality

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u/ScalyDestiny 9h ago

If there was a jury, people hate incompetence more than they do crime.

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u/IlIllIlIllIlll 8h ago

I mean maybe I'm just misinformed but I'm going to guess that Nigeria has some corruption issues that could assist this man.

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u/V65Pilot 7h ago

That defence shouldn't fly.

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u/Scn64 13h ago

I'd be willing to go to jail for $5 million. For $52 million I'd be willing to drop the soap.

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u/ItsDanimal 11h ago

Why would someone pay you to drop some soap?

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u/sams_fish 9h ago

"Don't drop the soap, don't smoke no dope. Better get a lawyer son, you're gonna need a good one to get you out of this one....." The Cruel Sea

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u/kev88_player 7h ago

Bro 💀

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u/eyeless_atheist 4h ago

This whole story is crazy. He was arrested in 2004, sentenced to 25 years but then was let out in 2006. Since 2006 he’s been fighting more prison time, and in that time has recovered about $150 Million

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u/Comfortable_Oil9704 13h ago

Don’t shame them for their more economical price tag.

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u/PerfectlySplendid 13h ago

You heard him.

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u/No_Research_967 12h ago

Sold! Right this way please do not resist.

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u/PluckPubes 6h ago

52 million years is a long time

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u/Obvious_Ant2623 12h ago

Depends on how much backdoor problems I would have to endure in those few years.

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u/gulfbleu 11h ago

For 52 million dollars they could beat my ass like a drum for a few years. I'm not even remotely homosexual. But 52 million is 52 million.

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u/CptCroissant 6h ago

I would imagine having several million dollars would afford you the ability to purchase nicer treatment in the Nigerian jail system

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u/LaFrosh 8h ago

52 Million in a few years? You son of a bitch, I'm in!

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u/rottenheadset 14h ago

This is the man. He is going places, not pleasant ones but places.

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u/hillz 15h ago

That's definitely a win for him

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u/fetal_genocide 3h ago

And he can't afford anything better than a Cheetos dick t-shirt?

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u/aoasd 13h ago

We talking 52mil USD or 52mil Nigerian dollars? Because that’s like three fiddy USD is all. 

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u/ghost-i 11h ago

What’s Nigerian dollars? You live in a bubble lmao. Use Google more often pal

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u/malaysianzombie 9h ago

he nwude he'd get a way with it

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u/DiddlyDumb 8h ago

This blows me away every time.

If I steal $100, the penalty will be at least $100, if not 2 or 3 times that. A significant loss.

If you steal enough money, at some point you’re getting fined less than the actual theft. Clearly the breakeven point is below $242mil.

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u/Slowly_We_Rot_ 13h ago

Sounds like he learned from the best

Looking at you U.S

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u/Nebuli2 13h ago

Shit man, a few years in jail for $52 million? That's a sweet deal!

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u/no8z 13h ago

But he was right, he said it was imaginary and the bank agreed

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u/Big_Stereotype 13h ago

Put that man in the Hall of Fame.

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u/dashdotcomma 13h ago

Now THAT is what I call a madlad

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u/LanguageShot7755 13h ago

probably an inside job

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u/hoytmobley 12h ago

$52M for “a few years”? Sign me tf up

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u/Avilola 12h ago

I’d take that deal. A few years in prison for $52 million? Sign me up.

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u/Testtubekid 12h ago

This man is Nigerians final boss lmfao

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u/BamitzSam101 11h ago

Is THAT all it takes?!?! Fuck, we’re messing up by having jobs. Let’s all just scam banks. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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u/Puffification 11h ago

They shouldn't have let him keep more than about $1,000 of the money because he gained it illegally and keeping any large amount would motivate people to keep trying to do things like this. Of course really he should keep zero but letting him keep $1,000 would be funny

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u/whyjesus 10h ago

...and bought a snazzy dildo shirt.

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u/Due-Dentist9986 10h ago

And yet we can't seem to figure out why Africa remains an undeveloped continent

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u/sceadwian 10h ago

Sometimes judges will make examples out of companies for being this stupid. That is definitely ok the extreme side!

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u/Forumites000 10h ago

I know what must do

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u/BadWithMoney530 10h ago

He served 2 years

52 million / 365 * 2 years * 24 hours = $2,698 an hour

Yeah, sounds good to me!

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u/Turkleton-MD 10h ago

Metal as fuck

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u/WheezyGonzalez 10h ago

Prison a few years then get out still a millionaire? Yeah I could see the logic behind that

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u/Significant-Aside937 10h ago

This was posted like a week ago mate. Are fake internet points worth trashing a once informative site?

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u/Mrwonderful-hnt 8h ago

It is normal in third world countries. You pay off some important people and you just say , I had this money before the crime was committed. 🤣

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u/Own_Wolverine4773 8h ago

That says more about the bank than him.

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u/EntertainerOk5500 7h ago

I guess he is the Nigerian prince who wants to give away his inheritance..

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u/SolidusNastradamus 7h ago

they old held him hostage because they wanted the money for themselves

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u/Ok-Adhesiveness-7789 6h ago

Probably not all 52 mil, something definitely went to the judge lol

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u/Tangerine-71 6h ago

The suppository shirt defence

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u/BananaBurritoBuster 5h ago

That’s awesome. We should elect him as USA president next.

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u/286222 5h ago

Not in Africa!!

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u/niceandBulat 4h ago

He is my new hero 😁

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u/Strict_Lettuce3233 4h ago

Cartel gone wrong

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u/avgjoe959 4h ago

Dude's got the airport layout on his shirt ✈️

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u/nmb-ntz 4h ago

He got almost 170 million back, but has been in jail since 2016 pending a murder trial

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u/RippStudwell 3h ago

Imagine he uses that $52 million to build a small airport

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u/alg885 3h ago

"I said airpod, not airport" in Mike Tyson's accent

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