{"id":464923,"date":"2018-02-16T14:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/16\/the-playboy-who-got-away-with-242m-using-black-magic\/"},"modified":"2018-02-16T14:00:30","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T14:00:30","slug":"the-playboy-who-got-away-with-242m-using-black-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/16\/the-playboy-who-got-away-with-242m-using-black-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"The playboy who got away with $242m using \u2018black magic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">General News of Friday, 16 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>citifmonline.com<\/p>\n<p>2018-02-16<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/78714160.295.jpg\" alt=\"Foutanga Babani Sissoko87\" title=\"Foutanga Babani Sissoko87\" width=\"295\" height=\"157\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Foutanga Babani Sissoko was suspected of embezzling nearly $250 million from a Middle Eastern bank<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518789629_669_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">One day in August 1995 a man called Foutanga Babani Sissoko walked into the head office of the Dubai Islamic Bank and asked for a loan to buy a car. The manager agreed, and Sissoko invited him home for dinner. It was the prelude, writes the BBC\u2019s Brigitte Scheffer, to one of the most audacious confidence tricks of all time.<\/p>\n<p>Over dinner, Sissoko made a startling claim. He told the bank manager, Mohammed Ayoub, that he had magic powers. With these powers, he could take a sum of money and double it. He invited his Emirati friend to come again, and to bring some cash.<\/p>\n<p>Black magic is condemned by Islam as blasphemous. Even so, there\u2019s still a widespread belief in it, and Ayoub was taken in by the colourful and mysterious businessman from a remote village in Mali.<\/p>\n<p>When he arrived at Sissoko\u2019s house the next time, carrying his money, a man burst out of a room saying a spirit \u2013 a djinn \u2013 had just attacked him. He warned Ayoub not to anger the djinn, for fear his money would not be doubled. So Ayoub left his cash in the magic room, and waited.<\/p>\n<p>He said he saw lights and smoke. He heard the voices of spirits. Then there was silence.<\/p>\n<p>The money had indeed doubled.<\/p>\n<p>Ayoub was delighted \u2013 and the heist could begin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe believed it was Black Magic \u2013 that Mr Sissoko could double the money,\u201d says Alan Fine, a Miami attorney the bank later asked to investigate the crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo he would send money to Mr Sissoko \u2013 the bank\u2019s money \u2013 and he expected it to come back in double the amount.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Between 1995 and 1998, Ayoub made 183 transfers into Sissoko\u2019s accounts around the world. Sissoko was also running up big credit card bills \u2013 in the millions according to Fine \u2013 which Ayoub would settle on his behalf.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/19653169.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In 1998 I was living in Dubai, and I heard rumours that the bank was in trouble. When a newspaper reported that the bank was having cashflow problems, crowds of people gathered outside, waiting to withdraw their money.<\/p>\n<p>The Dubai authorities downplayed the crisis. They called it \u201ca little difficulty that did not lead to any financial losses either in the bank\u2019s investments or depositors\u2019 accounts\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But this wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people who owned the bank took a huge, huge hit. It was not covered by insurance,\u201d says Fine. \u201cThe bank was saved because the government stepped in to help. But they gave up a lot of their equity in the bank for that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And where was Foutanga Babani Sissoko? By this time, he was far away.<\/p>\n<p>One of the beauties of his scheme was that he did not need to be in Dubai to keep receiving the money.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/95214550.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In November 1995, only weeks after putting on the magic display for Mohammed Ayoub, Sissoko visited another bank in New York, and did much more than open an account.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe walked into Citibank one day, no appointment, met a teller and he ended up marrying her,\u201d says Alan Fine. \u201cAnd there\u2019s reason to believe she made his relationship with Citibank more comfortable, and he ended up opening an account there through which, from memory, I\u2019m just going to say more than $100m was wire transferred into the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, according to a case brought by the Dubai Islamic Bank against Citibank, more than $151m \u201cwas debited by Citibank from DIB\u2019s correspondent account without proper authorisation\u201d. The case was later dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko paid his new wife more than half a million dollars for her help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know under what legal regime he married her but he called her a wife and she believed she was a wife,\u201d says Fine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe understood that there were many other wives. Some from Africa, some from Miami, some from New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/57898573.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With the bank\u2019s money rolling in, Sissoko could fulfil his dream of opening an airline for West Africa. He bought a used Hawker-Siddeley 125 and a pair of old Boeing 727s. This was the birth of Air Dabia, named after his village in Mali.<\/p>\n<p>But in July 1996, Sissoko made a serious mistake as he tried to buy two Huey helicopters dating from the Vietnam War, for reasons that remain unclear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis explanation of why he wanted them was emergency air ambulance. But the helicopters he was looking at were pretty big helicopters, they were not the kind that you see running back and forth to hospitals and trauma centres in the United States, they were much bigger than that,\u201d says Fine.<\/p>\n<p>Because they could be refitted as gunships, the helicopters needed a special export licence. Sissoko\u2019s men tried to speed things up by offering a $30,000 bribe to a customs officer. Instead, they got themselves arrested. And Interpol issued a warrant for Sissoko\u2019s arrest too. He was caught in Geneva, where he\u2019d gone to open another bank account.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Spencer, a Miami lawyer who was asked to represent Sissoko, vividly remembers going to meet him in Geneva\u2019s Champ-Dollon prison.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talked with the prison warden, who asked me whether or not Sissoko was going to go to the United States,\u201d Spencer says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Well, you know, we\u2019ll see.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Well, please delay it as long as possible.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Well why?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Because he\u2019s flying in fantastic meals from Paris every night, for us.\u2019 And that was my first bizarre encounter with Baba Sissoko.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/69546848.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b>The Miami court where Sissoko stood trial (now closed)<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko was quickly extradited to the US, where he started to mobilise influential supporters.<\/p>\n<p>The readiness of diplomats to vouch for Sissoko shocked the judge presiding over his bail hearing. And Tom Spencer was stunned when a former US senator, Birch Bayh, announced he was joining Sissoko\u2019s defence team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, you have to ask yourself, why would anyone get involved for a foreign national who has no apparent value to the United States?\u201d says Fine. \u201cI don\u2019t know the answer to the question. But it\u2019s an interesting one to pose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The US government wanted Sissoko held in custody, but he was bailed for $20m (\u00a314.5m) \u2013 a Florida record at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Then he went on a spending spree.<\/p>\n<p>His defence team was rewarded with Mercedes or Jaguar cars. But that was just the start.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko spent half a million dollars in one jewellery store alone, Fine recalls, and hundreds of thousands in others. In one men\u2019s clothing store he spent more than $150,000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would come in and buy two three four cars at the same time, come back another week and buy two three four cars at the same time. It was just, the money was like wind,\u201d says car dealer Ronil Dufrene.<\/p>\n<p>He calculates that he sold Sissoko between 30 and 35 cars in total.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko became a Miami celebrity. He already had several wives, but that didn\u2019t stop him marrying more \u2013 and housing them in some of the 23 apartments he rented in the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Playboy\u2019 is the right word to describe him. Because he is very elegant. And handsome. And he dresses with great style. He blew a lot of money in Miami,\u201d says Sissoko\u2019s cousin, Makan Mousa.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko was also giving away large sums to good causes. His trial was approaching, and he knew the value of good publicity. In one case witnessed by his cousin, he gave \u00a3300,000 ($413,000) to a high-school band that needed money to travel to New York for a Thanksgiving Day parade.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/47168287.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another of his defence lawyers, Prof H T Smith, remembers that on Thursdays he would drive around giving money to homeless people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was thinking, is this some modern day Robin Hood? Why would you steal money and g<br \/>\nive it away? It doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe [Miami] Herald did a story just after he left, and I think \u2013 I don\u2019t want to exaggerate but I think they said they could chronicle like $14m he gave away. He was only here 10 months. That\u2019s over a million dollars a month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alan Fine took a slightly more cynical view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo much of what he did was for image and to perpetuate a belief that he was a very powerful man and fabulously wealthy. He would give away money, but\u2026 to my knowledge it was never done in a way that he didn\u2019t get publicity for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite this PR drive, when Sissoko\u2019s case came to court he disregarded his lawyers\u2019 advice and pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe he calculated that this would provoke fewer questions about his finances.<\/p>\n<p>The sentence was 43 days in prison and a $250,000 fine \u2013 paid, of course, by the Dubai Islamic Bank, though without its knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>After serving only half this sentence, he was given early release in return for a $1m payment to a homeless shelter. The rest he was meant to serve under house arrest in Mali.<\/p>\n<p>Instead he returned home to a hero\u2019s welcome.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/81221043.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was around this time that the Dubai Islamic Bank\u2019s auditors began to notice that something was wrong. Ayoub was getting nervous, and Sissoko had stopped answering his calls.<\/p>\n<p>Finally he confessed to a colleague, who asked how much was missing. Too ashamed to say, Ayoub wrote it on a scrap of paper \u2013 890 million dirhams, the equivalent of $242m (\u00a3175m).<\/p>\n<p>He was found guilty of fraud and given three years in jail. It\u2019s rumoured he was also forced to undergo an exorcism, to cure him of his belief in black magic.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko has never faced justice. In his absence, a Dubai court sentenced him to three years for fraud and practising magic. Interpol issued an arrest warrant and he remains a wanted man.<\/p>\n<p>I found transcripts from other trials at which Sissoko failed to appear, including one in Paris. His lawyer claimed he was a scapegoat for Ayoub\u2019s actions and the bank\u2019s money had gone elsewhere, but the court didn\u2019t swallow it and convicted him of money-laundering.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/31243061.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sissoko was a member of Parliament for 12 years<\/p>\n<p>For 12 years, between 2002 and 2014, Sissoko was a member of parliament in Mali, which gave him immunity from prosecution. For the last four years, no longer an MP, he has been protected by the fact that Mali has no extradition treaty with any other country.<\/p>\n<p>The Dubai Islamic Bank, nonetheless, is still pursuing him through the courts.<\/p>\n<p>I flew to Mali\u2019s capital, Bamako, to find people who might tell me about Sissoko.<\/p>\n<p>I tracked down his seamstress, who remembered him fondly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last time I saw him, two or three years ago, I made him a suitcase of clothes. If he didn\u2019t give out presents, he wasn\u2019t happy. It\u2019s his style. He loves to give things to people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>I also found his driver, Lukali Ibrahim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe good thing about him is that when things are going well you can expect a lot of presents from him. He likes to help people with their problems,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bad thing, I can tell you a few. This is someone who always gives people hope but instead of telling you the truth, he\u2019s just leading you on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the market I found a goldsmith who had only praise for a client who would call and ask him to make presents for his friends.<\/p>\n<p>I also heard that he could be found living near his native village, Dabia, which had given its name to Sissoko\u2019s short-lived airline, near Mali\u2019s border with Guinea and Senegal.<\/p>\n<p>After a long drive I found a house that fitted the description I\u2019d been given.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/56973001.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Suddenly, surrounded by armed guards, there he was. Babani Sissoko, in person, now perhaps 70 years old.<\/p>\n<p>He agreed to an interview. The atmosphere was edgy and slightly surreal. He began by telling me about his entry into the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy name is Sissoko Foutanga Dit Babani. You know, the day I was born all the villages round here burned down. The villagers went round shouting, \u2018Marietto has had a boy.\u2019 The fire leapt and leapt. There used to be a lot of bush around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He then talked about his efforts to rebuild the village, which began in 1985, and about the money he made. At one point he had been worth $400m, he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/99250202.jpg\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sissoko says he was once worth $400m \u2013 but that he is poor now<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nEventually, I asked about the $242m he had received from the Dubai Islamic Bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMadame, this $242m, this is a slightly crazy story. The gentlemen from the bank should explain how they lost all that money. I mean the $242m. Listen, how could that money have left the bank the way it did? That\u2019s the problem. It\u2019s not this man alone [Ayoub] who authorizes the transfers. When the bank transfers money it\u2019s not just one person who does it. Several people have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pointed out to him that Mohammed Ayoub had claimed at his trial that Sissoko had put him under a spell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe gentleman you\u2019re talking about, I\u2019ve seen him and met him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But the heist, he denied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only contact I had with him was when I went to buy a car. The bank bought it for me and I repaid the loan. It was a Japanese car.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Had he controlled people by means of black magic?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMadame, if a person had that kind of power, why would he work? If you have that kind of power you can stay where you are and rob all the banks of the world. In the United States, France, Germany, everywhere. Even here in Africa. You could rob all the banks you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked him if he was still rich.<\/p>\n<p>His answer was blunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo I\u2019m not rich any longer. I\u2019m poor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Defying Interpol, Sissoko has spent a remarkable 20 years on the run, even if he has squandered all his money and can never leave Mali.<\/p>\n<p>He has never spent a day in jail for the black magic bank heist.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 48 updated by: 48 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General News of Friday, 16 February 2018 Source: citifmonline.com 2018-02-16 Foutanga Babani Sissoko was suspected of embezzling nearly $250 million from a Middle Eastern bank One day in August 1995 a man called Foutanga Babani Sissoko walked into the head office of the Dubai Islamic Bank and asked for a loan to buy a car. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":464924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}