ROYAL SHAME IN AMERICA:
PRINCE of Nigeria’s Benin Kingdom, OSMOND EWEKA allegedly Defrauded Americans of $54,000 in New York…Scam job seekers out of thousands of dollars promising non-existent offers, dragged before Manhattan Supreme Court
*31 year old created bogus employment agency firms, advertised on Indeed.com
* Interview victims, have them pay a fee ranging between $300 to $700 for uniforms, training, background checks and job placement
*Married attorney Imade Igbinedion in an elaborate wedding in Nigeria in 2016
* ‘Relative, Royal Families, Great Descendants of late Aiguobasinwin Ovonramwe, Eweka II summon emergency meeting’-INVESTIGATION

BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Foreign Bureau Chief in New York of Naija Standard Newspaper 

HE WAS ONE OF THE great grand children and descendants of late Aiguobasinwin Ovonramwe, Eweka II, Oba of Benin who reigned from 1914 – 1933. The shameful attitude of OSMOND EWEKA, a Prince of Nigeria’s Benin Kingdom in United States of America has brought opprobrium to some of the acclaimed achievements of his great ancestral source been the son of Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (Overami ruled 1888–1897) deposed by the British and exiled to Calabar following the British punitive expedition in Benin City in 1897.

The extortion and stealing of $54,000 from New Yorkers seeking job opportunities by Osmond last week has certainly erode the memory and accomplishment of Eweka II who rebuilt the royal compound earlier destroyed, looted by the British in 1897, and re-established the traditional structure of the kingdom.

Rebuked, rejected and rubbished as ‘The Prince and Fraudster’ in the Western press, Osmond was arrested few days ago for ‘scamming hundreds of job seekers out of thousands by promising them high-paying gigs in New York, which had been found to be hoax.’ This 31 year old married Royal prince, an American citizen living in New Jersey desperate to live large, created fake employment agency firms to defraud innocent Americans through advert placement on Indeed.com to find their victims.

Confirming this development, prosecutors said Osmond and his friend, Kamel McKay, created bogus employment agency firms and used Indeed.com to find their victims. They would interview their victims and have them pay a fee, ranging between $300 and $700. Osmond and McKay would then send the job seekers to businesses where they were turned away because the employer was not expecting them.

According to prosecutors, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Osmond Eweka, 31, and his friend Kamel McKay, 27, pretended to run two consulting firms in Manhattan telling clients that if they paid a fee they would be placed at various jobs across New York City.

The Nigerian prince and his accomplice are accused of bamboozling hundreds of job seekers out of thousands of dollars by promising them high-paying gigs in New York. Prosecutors said they pocketed $54,000 and never provided a single job to their victims. Prosecutors said some of the jobs Osmond and McKay promised their victims were for hotel housekeeping and front desk receptionists. The men used the popular job-seeking website Indeed.com to find their victims.

Court document showed that Osmond and McKay used office space in the Empire State Building and another building on fifth avenue to run two bogus employment agency firms, Stamford Consulting Firm and Howard Consulting Group. To deceive their unsuspecting victims, the duo used fake names to avoid easy detection. Osmond went by the name Sean Jackson and McKay reportedly used the name Tyrone Hayes.

Their Method of Operation:
Prosecutors said they would invite their victims to their office for an interview and then have them pay a fee, ranging between $300 and $700. Prosecutor Catherine McCaw said they told victims the fee would cover the cost of uniforms, training and background checks. They also said that paying the high fee would result in higher-paying jobs. ‘But in reality, there was no such job,’ she said at Osmond’s arraignment on Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

After they had used ‘sweet-mouth’ to collect the money, the men would then send the job seekers to different businesses they had no relationship, where the victims were turned away by employers who weren’t expecting them.

The victims then found that they could no longer get in contact with the alleged fraudsters or the consulting firm, as their phone numbers was no longer accessible and office no longer operational. 
For the authorities, Osmond and McKay duped 250 people and pocketed more than $54,000. Prosecutors said they never provided a single job. They ran the alleged scam from January to June 2018.

As said, Osmond is a prince from the Benin royal family in Nigeria and McKay is from the Bronx. Both men were indicted on charges of larceny and scheme to defraud. McKay was arraigned last week and released on $200,000 bail. Osmond was in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released without bail.

In 2016, Osmond married attorney Imade Igbinedion in an elaborate wedding ceremony in Nigeria. Though some representatives from the Benin family reportedly said they could not confirm whether Osmond was a family member because the ‘it is a very large family’, but a source in the Eweka family in Benin confirmed that due to the shameful behaviour of Prince Osmond, relatives and great descendants of Eweka II royal family will be meeting to investigate this royal shame.

His words: “Since we heard that Prince Osmond Eweka, a direct descendant of late Aiguobasinwin Ovonramwe, Eweka II was arrested and prosecuted for larceny, stealing and fraud to the tune of $54,000, the royal family had been making contacts so we may have a meeting to investigate this damaging allegation to the reputation, image of Benin Kingdom. Be rest assured, we will brief you on the outcome.”

Eweka appeared in a Manhattan court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to charges of larceny and scheme to defraud.

https://youtu.be/JMOv7YLvreA

Culled from :

http://nigeriastandardnewspaper.com/ng/royal-shame-in-america-prince-of-nigerias-benin-kingdom-osmond-eweka-defraud-americans-of-54000-in-new-york-scam-job-seekers-out-of-thousands-of-dollars-promising-non-existent-offers-dragged/