FACTCHECK: 5 out of 6 victims of Hajia4Reall never presented evidence to court on October 24

Claim: 5 out of 6 victims of Hajia4Reall presented evidence in court, a development which might have triggered her purported attempt at suicide

Source: An Instagram blog named, 'West African Celebs'

Verdict: False

Explanation

A popular blog on Instagram, on October 26, alleged that Hajia4Reall attempted to commit suicide, a claim that has since been widely carried by other blogs and stirred discussions across social media.

‘West African Celebs’ attributed the possible reasons for her suicide attempt to claims that some five out of six victims have presented evidence to the court in a purported trial that took place on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at the Manhattan federal court, in the United States.

“Information reaching us is that Hajia4Reall attempted to kill herself last night. Please pray for her. Things aren’t looking good as five out of six victims have turned out in court with evidence on Tuesday. This may have triggered the incident.”

Factcheck

Per the court transcripts, there was no trial on Tuesday, October 24th. So far, what has been presented to the court are the FBI’s investigations and the victims’ account, which took place in September.

The prosecution came up with a docket annotation through which some updates were added to the transcript and made public to interested persons. But the main trial which is often preceded by a pre-trial is yet to take place.

Verdict

The last time Hajia4Reall was engaged in a speech trial was in June, and the court is yet to even adjourn a pre-trial conference which has been postponed from 6th September to 12th October and now 13th November.

However, the claim that some five out of six victims presented evidence to the court on Tuesday, October 24, for which Hajia4Reall contemplated suicide is false.

There was no court sitting on October 24.





Hajia4Reall took over US$2million from 6 victims using 5 bank accounts

Investigations reveal that Hajia4Reall maintained five foreign bank accounts in which she accumulated money obtained from six victims.

The socialite opened some five bank accounts under the name of different non-existing business ventures, in three different banks in Bronx, New York.

Labeled ‘Montrage Accounts’ and numbered from Account 1 to Account 5, these accounts were said to have accrued deposits that totaled $2, 165, 000 from victims.

Background

Mona Faiz Montage widely known as Hajia4Reall/ Mona4Reall, was extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom over alleged involvement in a $2 million romance scam targeting older, single Americans.

According to US federal prosecutors, the 30-year-old musician cum businesswoman first appeared in Manhattan federal court on Monday, May 15 for her alleged involvement in a series of romance schemes.






EB/BB/MA