Another Nigerian based in the United States, Dr. Ayo Gbadebo has given detailed account of Kazim Oladotun Oyenuga, son of a popular late gold merchant in Ibadan, Taiwo Oyenuga Sitaga (Sikiru Taiwo Oyenuga) defrauded him of $100,000 (about N50 million).
Dr. Gbadebo while narrating hid ordeal stated that Kazim’s former pastor waded into the matter in a meeting where he pleaded to pay back the money but stopped attending the church.
In an exclusive interview with Sahara Reporters, Dr. Gbadebo said:
“I got to meet him through a mutual friend who is also a pharmacist. My friend invited me to partner in a joint venture pharmacy related business which Kazim happened to be coordinating and according to the pitch Kazim gave; ‘this is a lifetime opportunity that we cannot afford to miss’. He gave a lengthy proposition of how this existing practice needed our pharmacy expertise and compounded drugs and other services geared towards the treatment of their patients”.
“Prior to meeting with Kazim, my wife and I were just about to pull the trigger on another business that we were considering several months before, but because I believed Kazim had a genuine business and being a pharmacist, It will be a familiar terrain for me than doing a completely different business. So we thrashed the previous business plan we had wanted to go into and decided to venture into this pharmacy business.
“After much persuasion, I initially paid $25,000 as investment for partnership in the business. He agreed that we will have access to all processes and paperwork of the business and drafted a business proposal. Upon getting the $25, 000, he mounted more pressure on the premise of dealing with a very impatient physician who was ready to pull the plug if we failed to deliver more meds. He pleaded for more capital investment as he had got into a bind and found himself in a make-or-break situation.
“At that time, he offered to increase my ownership stake in the business as the success of the deal relied on getting more capital. At this point, I extended invitation to another friend and together we raised an additional $75, 000 to put in a total of $100, 000 into the business.
“The most shocking thing was that almost immediately after getting the money, he told workers at his pharmacy that they should not allow us access to the pharmacy and books which were contrary to the agreement. We made several attempts to reconcile the books since he keeps complaining of needing more money and obviously seeing the numbers did not add up, but every effort to get the books reconciled was futile. He was conspicuously non- transparent and while still in the process of getting to terms with the state of the business, I found out he had just opened a new Pet Pharmacy.
“After several months of Kazim claiming that insurance had yet to start paying our claims for services we rendered, on one of the few meetings we had, a worker he claimed was his accountant mentioned that some of the money Kazim got from insurance was used for doing other things, only at that point did he accept that insurance started paying back money from the business that I funded but up till today, I am have to get any details of how money went. Kazim’s former pastor waded into the matter and pleaded (with him) to pay me back my money. He promised he was going to pay back by February 2018 and after that meeting, he stopped attending that church.”
This latest story is coming a day after documents exposed how Kazim Oyenuga defrauded two Nigerians of $134,000 (about N67 million).
“Kazim that resides at 6508 Sleepy Spring Dr. Plano TX 75024 has become a menace to the society since he had channelled his focus, knowledge, and passion to defrauding personal individuals, wholesale vendors, insurance companies, landlords, employees. He has carved a niche for himself as a serial fraudster.
“He is an impostor, pretending to operate pharmacy practices to the society. However, his entire business motive is to defraud, steal and destroy another innocent,”
Mr. Olufemi Dominic who is one of the victims allegedly defrauded of $34,000 in 2020 also told SaharaReporters that Mr. Kazeem Oyenuga is an impostor, pretending to operate pharmacy practices to the society. “However, his entire business motive is to defraud, steal and destroy another innocent,” he said.
Olufemi further accused Kazeem’s mother, Saudat Oyenuga of being an accomplice in his ‘fraudulent business operations’.
“The duo actively collaborate in diverse fraudulent schemes to engage, defraud, and instill fears and barriers to silence their victims, using all mischievous and fraudulent means.
“In January 2020, Saudat Oyenuga and Oladotun Kazim Oyenuga conspired to defraud me. They conspired using manipulative attempts to extort monetary funds from me. They invited me to their family home in Plano, Texas, USA where I met the duo.
“After the casual and informal meeting, Kazim told me to partner with him on one of his Pharmacy stores, IMEDSPLUS THE I-LAB (MEDICINESPLUS LLC) on the grounds that the business operations were becoming too overwhelming for only him to handle by himself. In addition, Kazim expressed that his recent inability to singlehandedly juggle the operations of his multiple stores had led him to lose some money after forfeiting one of the pharmacy stores as a result.
“I initially declined the business offer, on the note that I and my wife were just in the process of opening our own new pharmacy store around the same time. However, Kazim never gave up asking and begging as a result of his desperation to get me to come to terms with his business offer. After several pleas, placations and pressure from Kazim for me to come on board with him, I agreed on the condition to probationally join the business to ensure the actual state of the business, thoroughness, and the validity of the business as Kazim had disclosed.
“Kazim disclosed that the pharmacy in question only needed two fulltime employees; Pharmacist and a Pharmacy technician to get running. Kazim requested me to manage the pharmacy operations, while he focuses on running his own other two pharmacies. I agreed to collaborate in running the pharmacy operations, and then requested for all necessary documents in order to get a deeper insight of how to help the business get better.
“However, Kazim insisted that it was highly imperative for me to also commit some money into the business. Just as mentioned in his own word that I needed a skin in the game in order to ensure that I would be willing to uphold the values and interests of the business.
“He initially demanded the sum of $100,000.00 (about N50, 000, 000), but I told him I could not afford such considering his other business engagements. So, we agreed on an initial payment of $20,000.00 (about N10, 000, 000 to get things started. Within a week of my financial commitment and engagement with Kazim’s business, Kazim approached me about some pharmacy equipment he wanted to sell and mentioned that I might be able to use them to jumpstart my other pharmacy business.
“Although I declined to purchase the equipment, but after much pressure from Kazim, I offered to pay him $14, 000.00. (about N7 million). Upon Kazim’s receipt of payment, he sent the equipment to me only for me to discover that the equipment was missing on all accessories in addition to being obsolete plus the fact that the equipment would not qualify to meet the stipulations of the Texas State Pharmacy Boards and the Drug Enforcement Agencies.
“I rejected the equipment and Kazim apologised and then promised to refund the $14, 000.00 (about N7 million). Within one and half months of running IMEDSPLUS THE I-LAB (MEDICINESPLUS LLC), Kazim failed to provide sufficient proper documentations for the business. In addition, I observed two newly pharmacists had left within two weeks that they were hired.
“Finally, it was the third pharmacist that was able to get down to the root of the issues. It then became quite obvious that the business did not exist, and everything was just a scam. I then approached Kazim and he feigned ignorance and shamefully apologised for misleading me.
He then agreed to pay Olufemi the total sum of $34,000.00.
“Since April 2020, Kazim has been making numerous excuses for his inability to pay the money to me. Even though, his flamboyant lifestyles still reinforce the fact that he has the means to pay, he deliberately chose not to pay back. He later boasted in a text message to me that he had been defrauding people for ages.
“This declaration forced me to do some background checks into his dealings and it was then I found out that Kazim is a serial fraudster that has somehow getting away with defrauding people, financial institutions, pharmaceutical drug wholesalers, employees, landlords, etc.”
He continued, “He is still on the street as a white-collar criminal, walking conveniently, living flamboyantly. I recently realised that he just bought two exotic Range Rover cars (over $200, 000) for himself and wife. I then decided to raise delegates to discuss my concerns with his family members from his father side, having found out that his mum and siblings are with him in the business of defrauding people.
“This infuriated Kazim for being exposed as a fraudster to his family members. His concern and desperation of his escapades as a fraudster forced him to hire off duty police officers, in an unprecedented and unprofessional manners to kidnap my younger brother that resides in Osogbo, Osun state, believing that would help instill fear to silence me.
“The attempt to kidnap my brother on behalf of Kazim failed. However, these police officers from Scorpion Squad, Akure, Ondo state maltreated my brother’s neighbors, arrested two of the neighbours for no apparent wrongdoings and forced them after a couple days to pay their hard-earned money for bail. In addition, they vandalised my bother’s house and stole a few of his personal assets.”
Also speaking to SaharaReporters, another US-based pharmacist who preferred to remain anonymous claimed Kazim defrauded him of $100,000.
