Dubai’s crime community has welcomed a new fugitive into the fold; John Barksdale.
Barksdale recently celebrated his birthday at a local karaoke bar.
Vitaliy Dubinin was in attendance, and shared footage of the event on FaceBook.
Barksdale and his sister JonAtina ran the Ormeus Global Ponzi scheme.
John Barksdale was indicted back in March. He remains wanted by US authorities, on criminal charges related to securities and wire fraud.
Parallel civil proceedings, filed by the SEC, allege losses of at least $124 million by over 20,000 Ormeus Global investors.
At the time of his indictment, Barksdale was believed to be in Thailand. It is unclear whether Barksdale fled to Dubai after being indicted, or after Thai authorities arrested him in 2019.
Barksdale turning up in the UAE is hardly surprising; Dubai is the MLM crime capital of the world.
Through a non-regulation of securities fraud, a lack of extradition treaties and non-cooperation with foreign authorities, Dubai hosts and provides a safe-haven for scammers.
To mark his birthday, Vitaliy Dubinin gifted Barksdale a sword necklace.
Dubinin, who has also fled to Dubai, is a serial promoter of MLM Ponzi schemes. He is long-due for his own criminal and civil fraud proceedings.
Following the failure of Meta Force, Dubinin is now heavily pushing the Dubai-based Ultron Ponzi scheme.