Washington-based attorney John Iweanoge, whose services were recently employed by Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas popularly known as “Hushpuppi”, has been accused of failing to comply with court rules, hence, the court has struck out his filed documents.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that Hushpuppi hired Iweanoge in a bid to shorten his impending jail sentence from 11 years as suggested by United States prosecutors.
According to Peoples Gazette, the documents from the United States District Court for the Central District of California show that Iweanoge’s pro hac vice application has been taken off the court’s record over inconsistencies.
“The court hereby ORDERS the documents listed below be stricken for failure to comply with the Local Rules, General Orders, and/or Case Management Order.”
A “Notice to Filer of Deficiencies in Electronically Filed Pro Hac Vice Application”, signed by the court clerk, states that Mr Iweanoge made errors while applying to practice across state lines.
Iweanoge’s application is said to have “not been flattened and is causing a corruption with the filing”. The Gazette understands that the court may further fine the Washington-based attorney.
The pro hac vice application allows the addition of an attorney to a case in a jurisdiction where they are not licensed to practice. As such, Iweanoge can no longer defend Hushpuppi in court without committing unauthorised practice of law.
Iweanoge is a top Washington D.C. criminal defence attorney popular among Nigerian suspects charged in Virginia and Maryland.
He had defended now-imprisoned Nigerian fraudster Obinwanne ‘Invictus’ Okeke, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a fraud scheme that caused about $11 million in losses to his victims.
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