Several media reports have indicated that the Nigerian born suspected fraudster, Ramoni Abbass, popularly known as Hushpuppi, has hired the service of an American criminal lawyer, Mark Geragos, to defend him court. Hushpuppi and his accomplice, Olalekena Jacob, also known as Woodberry, were arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, in June and were extradited to the United States of America on July 2nd to face charges bordering on ‘business email compromise’ (BEC) frauds”.
The Police, upon his arrest, ‘discovered that Hushpuppi and his accomplices had accumulated N168bn through corporate mails and sending fake messages to clients, and redirecting their financial transfers to their own accounts. About 1.9 million people from different parts of the world were also said to have fell victims of the syndicate. Some 13 luxury cars worth 3.7bn, 150 million dirham, computers, storage devices and hard disks containing data were recovered from the flat where they were arrested. However, Geragos, famous for winning a ground-breaking case involving Susan McDougal, a former business partner of former President, Bill Clinton, is now expected to defend Hushpuppi in court. Geragos secured a presidential pardon for McDougal on January 20, 2001, and also represented him in a 12-count embezzlement trial in Los Angeles in which the jury returned a not-guilty verdict.
Here are other interesting facts about Geragos:
Background
Geragos was born in Los Angeles, California on October 5, 1957. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, in 1979, double-majoring in anthropology and sociology, then his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Loyola Law School at the Loyola Marymount University in 1982. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1983.
Law career
Geragos is the managing partner for the law firm of Geragos & Geragos, where he oversees criminal defence and civil litigation. He was one of the lead lawyers in two groundbreaking federal class-action lawsuits against New York Life Insurance and AXA, for insurance policies issued in the early 20th century during the time of the Armenian Genocide of more than 1.5 million Armenians. The two cases settled for over $37.5 million, in 2004 and 2005. Notable clients Winona Ryder: In December 2002, Geragos defended Academy Award-nominated actress Winona Ryder on charges of stealing more than $5,500 worth of merchandise from a Beverly Hills, California store in 2001. She was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to undergo psychological and drug counselling.
Michael Jackson:
In the early stages of the Michael Jackson molestation case, Geragos simultaneously handled that case as well as Scott Peterson’s case, two of the best-known U.S. trials at that time.
Roger Clinton Jr. –
Geragos won dismissal of all alcohol-related charges against former President Clinton’s brother.
Cameron Brown –
He was the attorney for Brown, who was charged with murdering his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff. The twelve-week trial ended in August 2006 without a verdict.
Chris Brown–
Geragos represented Brown, who pleaded guilty to the assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna. On February 8, 2009, he brought Chris Brown to surrender to the LAPD. Later, Brown was arrested, and his court date was set to be on March 5, 2009. Geragos and Brown attended the court date, but did not plea and asked for arraignment until the next court date, April 6, 2009. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation and 6 months’ community service.
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