a mysterious African man walked into one of the banks in Dubai he's not just any visitor he has an unbelievable plan with smooth talk and an air of mystery he quickly becomes a close friend of the bank manager then out of nowhere he drops a bombshell he claims he's a wizard who can double money using Jin and black magic this sorcerer with his persuasive charm and enigmatic Aura doesn't just win over the bank maner manager's trust he turns him into an unwitting accomplice the manager Spellbound and captivated facilitates the transfer of a staggering sum $242
million but the African sorcerer's tale doesn't end there he Journeys to America where he begins lavishly spending his Newfound Fortune he indulges in every whim luxury cars opulent houses exquisite jewelry and the company of beautiful women he seems Untouchable living a life that most can only dream of however things take a dramatic turn his flashy lifestyle catches the wrong kind of attention and soon he's caught up in a messy legal battle with the US government this story is among the most astonishing and peculiar stories you will ever hear it's a narrative of fraud operating on
an entirely different level so make sure to watch it to the end today we're delving into a truly peculiar story some might think it's a work of fiction or embellished with lies but this story is grounded in reality without any exaggeration American court cases confirm the story's reality along with testimonies from lawyers and substantial evidence we'll explore all these details in this video our protagonist is a man named babani Soko from Mali the events date back to 1995 when Soko went to Dubai which was instilled as a major tourism and economic Hub in the region
attracting people from various countries and ethnicities to establish businesses and trade however upon his arrival in Dubai on a business Visa cissoko went to the Dubai Islamic Bank one of the largest banks in the city he went straight to the main branch and insisted on meeting the bank manager Muhammad aob the employees were surprised it's not usual for someone to to walk in and demand to see the bank manager immediately despite this coko persisted until he got a meeting with aob when ahob inquired about the purpose of his visit cissoko requested a car loan typically
certain criteria are needed for a loan like having a job or a steady income which coko didn't have especially as a recent arrival in Dubai however he somehow convinced Au to Grant him a car loan without any collateral afterward coko thanked abob and invited him to his apartment for dinner initially aob was hesitant but coko insisted and to persuade AUD to visit his apartment and accept the dinner invitation coko tantalized him with a promise of showing him something extraordinary and unique from his culture a Marvel he had never seen before assuring aop he wouldn't regret
it iob's curiosity was piqued especially in the 1990s when Tales of magic and Jin were more mystical than today and people were more fascinated by and believed in them eventually aob agreed to the invitation in the evening aob arrived at soko's apartment coko welcomed him and after some initial conversation in Hospitality coko LED AOG to a dark smoke-filled room resembling Something From Another World filled with various objects there coko revealed that he was a sorcerer capable of using Jin to double any amount of money meaning if AO brought any amount coko claimed he could return
twice the sum AO listening intently and observing the room seemed to be drawn in by this strange and curious world to make a test AO called the relative to bring 100,000 durhams or approximately $25,000 when the money arrived the bank manager handed it to sissoko and they both entered the dark room which truly resembled a sorcerer's chamber in the center of the room coko sat down with the money in front of him while the bank manager stood and watched suddenly music began to play throughout the apartment coko threw a substance into the sensors causing the
smoke and incense to increase significantly he started chanting in strange tones swaying his body from side to side then unexpectedly the electricity in the apartment went off plunging everything into darkness moments later a loud noise came from an adjacent room and a door burst open a man ran out screaming about a Jin that had appeared and attacked him the bank manager was bewildered and didn't know what to do cilo laughed and told him not to worry explaining that such occurrences were normal but the Jen might be uncomfortable with his presence as a stranger he advised
auu to leave the apartment for a while until the money doubling process was complete the manager now scared and confused by what he witnessed obeyed and waited outside hearing sounds of music movement inside the apartment and even thunder lightning and smoke seeping from under the door after a while the commotion inside the apartment subsided the noises ceased and the door opened sissoko standing at the door invited the bank manager back in the manager entered to find the apartment filled with smoke but the first thing he noticed was the money on the table coko pointed to
the cash and told the manager here is your money doubled you gave me 100,000 and now it's 200,000 the manager approached the table incredulously handling the money it indeed seemed like the amount had doubled 200,000 precisely twice what he had given Soka at this moment the bank manager Muhammad aob was utterly convinced by the ACT sissoko's performance possibly with the help of a compes had him firmly believing in the sorcery and not harboring any doubts it's worth noting that this money doubling trick was a common scam in the 1990s particularly executed by individuals of African
nationalities aob fell into the Trap genuinely believing that coko was a sorcerer who could double the money this belief led him to start transferring substantial sums to sissoko regularly he opened a special account in the bank for sissoko and continued to transfer money into it here the story takes an even more illogical turn despite transferring Millions from the bank's funds to Soko the money never came back doubled AO just kept making one transfer after another all from the banks money in the period between 1995 and 1998 the bank manager executed a staggering 183 transfer operations
to sissoko's accounts we're not just talking about his accounts in Dubai but also those in various countries around the world including the United States Switzerland and France the total of these transfers reached an astonishing $242 million one of the fundamental questions is why the bank manager continued making these transfers Millions upon Millions even though Soko never doubled any amount as promised but simply kept receiving the millions without any apparent reason there's no clear explanation for this behavior only conjectures some speculate that coko might indeed have been a sorcerer not just a con artist and used
magic to Cloud the bank manager's judgment compelling him to continue the transfers another theory suggests fear played a role perhaps the bank manager truly believed sissoko was a sorcerer and feared harm to himself or his family if he disobeyed a third possibility is that coko might have had some leverage or threat over the manager when the bank manager first transferred a significant sum likely in the millions coko might have refused to return the doubled amount and instead threatened to expose the manager if the transfers weren't continued the second pressing question is how such massive amounts
were withdrawn from the bank over 3 years without anyone noticing or raising ing an alarm even if the bank manager was the highest Authority in the bank there must have been accountants routine Audits and inventory processes how could such a huge sum all popping $242 million go unnoticed for 3 years this aspect is perhaps the most baffling part of the story it's possible that banking operations at the time were different or the accounting systems weren't as advanced as we see today we are talking about an incident that occurred around 30 years ago but this explanation
seems weak because regardless of the systems in place the amount was extraordinarily large here Begins the second chapter of the story focusing on the luxurious life coko enjoyed using the bank's money as mentioned earlier the story started in 1995 after deceiving the bank manager and securing Millions coko decided to leave Dubai and return to his home country Molly during this time the bank manager continued transferring Millions to sissoko's account Soko spent several months in his home Village of debad in Mali which like many villages in the region was impoverished he was showering the villagers with
gifts and money and initiating various projects this generosity transformed The Village's economy and the villagers started seeing him as a father figure and savior affectionate ly calling him basur he became a beloved and revered figure in the community after several months in the village coko decided to move to the United States specifically New York with the bank transfers still ongoing in the early months of 1996 coko arrived in New York and opened an account with cbank one of the largest American banks of the time he visited the main branch in New York and somehow convinced
one of the female employees to marry him likely using his wealth as a lure despite knowing that cissoko already had multiple wives in Africa Europe and other parts of America she agreed this marriage to the C Bank employee was primarily aimed at facilitating his banking transactions as he planned to transfer all of his funds from Dubai to the United States indeed Soko successfully transferred over $100 million from his account in Dubai to his account in the United States at sidan his new wife an employee at cbank likely facilitated these transactions while coko might not have
needed her assistance her involvement certainly smoothed the process in return He gifted her half a million dollars and continued to spend generously on her to substantiate the transfer of this enormous sum from Dubai to C Bank in America this page documents the case filed by Dubai Islamic Bank in 1999 against Citybank in the United States it's a documented legal case that took place in New York courts between the two Banks the case details that from 1995 to 1998 with the assistance of three C Bank employees whose names are listed in the court documents one of
them being soko's wife according to the case they helped a man named fanka babani Soko in a money laundering operation the court records and documents mention that the amount involved was $151 million let's get back to our story feeling secure once the money reached his American account coko started Living a lavish lifestyle in the United States he began spending extravagantly purchasing whatever he desired he even bought planes and established an airline named after his village deia Airlines he bought a private small plane and two Boeing 727s each with a capacity of 180 passengers he intended
to create a full-fledged Airline but he opted for used and older planes as new ones were prohibitively expensive even for him however these ambitious plans didn't fully materialize the planes mostly remained grounded at the airport and the airline he dreamt of never truly took off this was characteristic of Soko he would enthusiastically invest Millions into new ideas only to lose interest later Soko amidst his Grand project ideas and extravagant spending did not forget his people he continued to support the inhabitants of his village deia and his popularity grew even extending to neighboring areas whenever he
landed his plane people would gather to welcome him with flowers and Embraces and he generously shared his wealth with them sissoko lived like royalty in every aspect including popularity and public aeration however things took a turn for the worse in July 1996 at that time coko attempted to purchase two helicopters that belonged to the US military these were old decommissioned military helicopters dating back to the Vietnam War era coko had set his sights on them and submitted a purchase request to the US government claiming that he wanted to convert these helicopters into air ambulances to
transport the injured he planed to used them in his village where he had already built Hospitals and Clinics as an additional support tool for these medical facilities however the US government stalled the request due to suspicions that coko might use the helicopters for other purposes such as drug trafficking or arming them for use in civil conflicts in Mali given their military origin as a result soko's Associates attempted to expedite the process through illegal means coko followers tried to bribe a Us official with $30,000 sissoko didn't directly order this bribe rather it was an initiative from
his supporters unfortunately for them the official they attempted to bribe was honorable and reported the bribery attempt to the authorities leading to their arrest investigations revealed their connection to sissoko making him a wanted man in the bribery case however ciso was not in the us at the time prompting an intern National warrant for his arrest through Interpol cissoko was eventually arrested in Geneva he was detained in one of the prisons there awaiting extradition to the US he immediately hired American lawyers to defend him with Thomas Spencer as his lead attorney Soko requested Spencer meet him
in the Swiss prison to discuss the case and subsequent legal procedures Spencer recounting his visit to Geneva mentioned an unusual interaction with the prison director before Mee meeting Soko Spencer spoke with the director who oddly requested to delay sissoko's extradition for as long as possible surprised Spencer inquired about the director's interest in the matter the director revealed that cissoko was arranging for Exquisite meals to be flown in from Paris every night creating a rather enjoyable situation for them from the moment Thomas Spencer encountered The Peculiar situation with the prison director in Geneva he realized he
was dealing with a unique and bizarre character soon after coko was extradited to the United States to face charges related to the bribery case specifically in Miami Florida where the bribery incident occurred Spencer's first move was to request a bail hearing aiming to secure soko's release until the trial however the US government and the prosecutor strongly opposed any bail fearing coko might flee due to the ongoing investigations into his activities which they suspected involve more than just the bribery case despite these concerns coko rallied significant support for his bail hearing possessing a fortune like coko
regardless of how it was acquired enabled him to forge powerful connections with influential people he leveraged these relationships to Garner support at the bail hearing his lawyer presented numerous diplomats and high-profile individuals from various embassies and positions who testified on his behalf the judge even noted in the court record that he had never seen so many diplomats in a courtroom before these testimonies portrayed coko as a respected and prominent figure bolstering his lawyer argument that coko was a man of stature in the community and unlikely to flee furthermore his legal team assured the court that
coko was prepared to pay substantial bail to guarantee his presence at the trial the judge feeling immense pressure especially from the prosecutor in government who were adamantly against granting sissoko bail decided to set an extraordinarily High bail amount unprecedented in Florida's courts the bail was set at $20 million an amount the judge believed to be prohibitive assuming coko wouldn't be able to pay it however after Consulting with his defense team and understanding the situation coko surprised the court by agreeing to pay the bail the bail was paid and OKO was released one of the first
things he did after his release was to gift his lawyer and the defense team seven cars the lawyer and his assistants were astounded it was the first time a client had given them such extravagant gifts especially considering that soko's trial was still pending all they had achieved so far was to get him released on bail until his trial date coko was required to remain in Miami until this trial but that wasn't a problem for him during this period he embarked on an unrestrained spending spree his IND Associates described how he would enter a jewelry store
and make purchases worth half a million dollars in a single visit car dealership employees also reported that he was buying two to four cars every week moreover he married several women possibly more than 10 just in Miami he rented over 20 Apartments each for a different wife meanwhile the Dubai my Islamic Banks manager continued to transfer money to him coko had credit cards from the bank with no spending limits and any debts accumulated on these cards were cancelled by the bank manager AO as if they never existed the question of why the bank manager continued
to do this remains a mystery was he truly under a spell threatened or scared it's an intriguing puzzle while in Miami awaiting his trial coko didn't forget the importance of philanthropy to improve his Public Image and gain people's sympathy and support which he hoped would help him in court he would go to the streets of Miami visiting impoverished areas to donate to the poor and homeless providing them with food and clothing the media documented these acts of kindness to boost his reputation on one occasion coko helped a school music band needing funds travel to New
York to participate in the grand Thanksgiving Day Parade he donated $300,000 to the band much more than they required for the trip in gratitude the band performed a special musical piece for him to express their appreciation coko was working on improving His Image in Miami Society believing it would ease his upcoming trial in March 1997 the trial for the bribery case related to the purchase of helicopter aircraft began his lawyers advised him to deny the charges especially since recorded convers ation showed Soko instructing his men to expedite the helicopter's acquisition without breaking us law contrary
to his lawyer advice coko confessed to the crime in court taking full responsibility for the bribery case his lawyers were perplexed by his decision and his main lawyer Thomas Spencer was even angry when Spencer tried to understand soko's rationale he refused to explain Spencer felt something was a Miss years later it was discovered that coko might have confessed to halting further us investigations into his financial dealings fearing more serious problems than the bribery case sissoko's sentence wasn't severe he received only a 43-day jail term and a fine of $250,000 as the bribery case wasn't considered
major it was just $30,000 and it involved two out ofservice helicopters so it wasn't seen as a highly sensitive matter coko was sent to a federal prison in Florida a regular facility not particularly high security after serving about half of his sentence the government offered him a deal to complete the rest under house arrest in exchange for a significant donation to a homeless shelter coko agreed and donated $1 million to the shelter consequently he was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under arrest at one of his houses once cuko completed his
sentence he immediately left the United States and returned to Mali upon his arrival he received a grand welcome at the airport as usual in 1998 Bank transfers from the Dubai Islamic bank's director to Soko continued Soko didn't save the money instead he found ways to spend it either on failed projects like deia Airlines or by Distributing it to his followers and and those around him he enjoyed playing the role of a modern-day Robin Hood even his lawyer noted that while in Miami awaiting his trial cissoko spent about a million dollar monthly in gifts to people
around him this expenditure was bound to increase in Molly where these people were his kin and it's much easier to be generous with someone else's money at the same time he constantly requested more transfers from the bank's director who continued to comply though it remains unclear why however such an unusual situation was bound to come to light eventually in March 1998 some of the bank's accountants started noticing discrepancies and began asking questions the bank director felt the pressure especially since he had been unable to contact sissoko for some time according to the story the director
decided to confess to a close colleague he struggled with how to approach the subject Unsure how to explain explain that he had transferred such massive amounts to an African man from another country because he believed him to be a sorcerer or because he himself was under a spell it was an unbelievable scenario embarrassed the director couldn't bring himself to verbalize the total amount transferred to the so-called African sorcerer instead he wrote it down 890 million durans equivalent to $242 million his colleague was under understandably shocked realizing this could mean the end of the bank once
the news started to spread panic ensued among the bank's clients fearing for their deposits this could have led to a massive Bank Run exacerbating the bank's financial crisis the Emir government swiftly intervened following the discovery of the bank's financial troubles the Dubai own newspaper Alban published an article assuring the public that the situation was under control the emir government and the Central Bank guaranteed the safety of all deposits at Dubai Islamic Bank crucial to preventing panic and mass withdrawals the article also mentioned that an investigation was underway and that Dubai Islamic bank's director muhamed aob
along with two of his associates had been detained for embezzling funds ranging between 200 to 500 million Duram most of the loss was borne by the bank's owners as it was a private institution on the brink of collapse until the government's intervention in exchange for this rescue a significant share of the bank became government owned details of the Court proceedings against the director and his associates are sparse but according to the article 17 people were sentenced to 3 years in prison these defendants were of various nationalities mostly Bank employees which somewhat explains how such large
sums could be embezzled whether these employees benefited from their complicity or remains unknown the article confirmed the total embezzled amount attributed to the bank's director Muhammad aob was over 890 million Duram as for coko he was also among the 17 sentenced receiving a verdict in absentia as he remained in mly all defendants were handed only threeyear sentences in 1999 Dubai Islamic Bank filed a lawsuit against cbank in the US accusing it of accepting large transactions without proper procedures the bank demanded compensation of $151 million but it appears that Citybank ended up paying no damages lawyers
appointed by Dubai Islamic Bank in the US investigated the transfers to determine where the money went they concluded that Muhammad AOG the director of Dubai Islamic Bank and his associates did not benefit financially from any of the transferred funds which all went to Sis this baffling situation brought us back to the question why did the bank director authorize all these transfers as for sissoko Interpol the international police organization issued an arrest warrant in his name meaning he would likely be arrested if he traveled anywhere thus he remained in Mali which doesn't have extradition treaties with
other countries and to further protect himself coko became a diplomat he ran for parliament in 2002 won the elections due to his popularity and became a member of the melan parliament thereby acquiring diplomatic immunity he believed this would protect him even if he traveled abroad however over the years soko's Fortune dwindled due to his excessive spending leading to a significant decrease in his popularity he lost the 2014 elections his parliamentary seat and his diplomatic immunity as well cisoka then returned to his small remote Village of deia and lived there for the rest of his life
in 2018 a BBC reporter managed to reach dub find soko's house and convinced him to participate in an interview the only one he ever gave unfortunately soko's interview wasn't very enlightening and failed to answer the Intriguing questions we had coko didn't speak much and didn't provide clear details about the whole affair the key takeaway from the interview was soko's admission of once possessing a vast Fortune claiming at one point to have had a capital of $400 million however he only embezzled $242 million from the bank where did the additional Millions come from there are two
possibilities either coko exaggerated his wealth or he was involved in other unknown scams many lean towards the latter in doubt that the Dubai is Islamic Bank scam was his only operation when asked about the current whereabouts of the money sissoko simply said he had spent it all when the interviewer questioned him about the Dubai Islamic Bank case he evaded the topic almost denying it and stating that his only interaction with the bank was for a car loan regarding the $242 million and the use of magic he laughed it off denying everything and stating that if
he were a wizard he wouldn't need to rob a bank he suggested that the bank should explain how such a huge sum disappeared from their accounts the interviewer being in his house and among his people didn't press him further or ask about the significant transfer documented at cbank in America nor about the bank employee he married his extravagant spending in Miami or the Myriad other questions she could have asked but chose not to out of fear in the interview ciso made a revealing statement about about his character saying one can never have enough money today
you spend 10 million tomorrow you want 20 million and the next day 40 million money is insatiable coko remained free and unaccountable living in his small village of deia until he died in 2021 this brings us to the end of this extraordinary story if you enjoyed it don't forget to like subscribe to the channel activate the notification Bell and and check out other amazing videos thanks for watching
