‘Not an unwitting dupe’ – Former Louth rapper jailed for nine months for laundering €25,000
The Drogheda IndependentA former member of Drogheda rap group A92 has been jailed for money laundering.
Olauide Samad Fazaz (26), St Laurence’s Park, Drogheda, pleaded guilty to the offence which concerned a sum of more than €25,000.
A sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court was told that the offending occurred between September 28, 2021, and February 6, 2022, and involved multiple small transactions.
Imposing an 18-month sentence, the final nine months suspended, Judge Dara Hayes said that this was not a typical “money mule” case.
The defendant was “far from the ultimate profiteer” but his involvement was not that of an “unwitting dupe” to allow his account to be used briefly.
It was stated in mitigation that Mr Fazaz understood it was Bitcoin and that he would make 10% of the profits. All he got out of it was €216.
Det Gda Paul Martin testified that an alert was received from An Post about suspicious transactions, namely 317 lodgements amounting to €16,775 on an account belonging to Mr Fazaz.
However, on review it was discovered that the total was €25,504.34. All the money was gone.
All were ‘Quicklodge’ transactions which transferred to various accounts, including the accused’s AIB account, within seconds in some instances.
Det Gda Martin said that a search of his home yielded original An Post transactions and bank cards in other people’s names.
Mr Fazaz admitted allowing his account to be used by a person who subsequently blocked him on social media.
He said some of the transactions were his, some weren’t. When others were put to him he offered “no comment” or said that he was unaware of them.
The witness continued that the defendant was a member of the rap group A92.
He had no previous convictions at the time but has since been convicted of driving without insurance, failing to produce insurance and no NCT.
Counsel for Olauide Samad Fazaz said that he responded to an advert on Telegram. His understanding was that it was Bitcoin, something he was very interested in.
The accused was a talented musician, who played, sang and DJ-ed for his Church and charities. He was no longer in A92.
He has been living in Ireland since he was 4. After the Leaving Certificate he did a PLC course in Multimedia.
The defendant was not working. He had a job offer from a security company.
He was single, had no children and still lived at home. Mr Fazaz wanted a career in Music.
Judge Hayes interjected to say that the items recovered during the search suggested a greater involvement in fraud than being led into it.
Counsel replied that her client admitted he was reckless. He should have “looked behind it”.
Prosecuting counsel Miska Hanahoe pointed out that other than a testimonial from his father, others submitted did not reference the court proceedings.
Judge Hayes recalled that the accused entered a guilty plea on a trial date before a jury was empanelled.
He said this was not a typical “money mule” case where people were persuaded their accounts be used to benefit significant criminality.
Mr Fazaz was far from the ultimate profiteer but his was not that of an unwitting dupe to allow his account to be used briefly.
An 18-month prison sentence was handed down, the final 9 months suspended.