Hired to help the tiny island nation of Timor-Leste review and evaluate bids for the country's growing petroleum development, Bobby Boye had recommended that the Ministry of Finance retain a firm he secretly created to bilk the government out of millions.
TRENTON--Bobby Boye, a Mahwah attorney with a Bentley and a Rolls Royce in his garage and a $10,000 watch on his wrist, held a lucrative contract as a legal advisor for Timor-Leste, a tiny Southeast Asian island nation looking for international investment.
Boye, hired to help Timor-Leste review and evaluate bids for the country's growing petroleum development projects, had recommended that the Ministry of Finance retain the firm of Opus & Best Services, purportedly a New York-based law and accounting company.
It was all a sham.
Opus & Best, say federal prosecutors, was created by Boye himself after submitting the bid in 2012 in an elaborate $3.51 million international con game. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, he used the money to purchase four properties in New Jersey for more than $1.5 million in cash, three luxury vehicles--including the Bentley, the Rolls Royce and a black Range Rover--and two designer watches for almost $20,000.
On Thursday, Boye, who pleaded guilty in May to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton to six years in prison for fraud and ordered to repay the $3.51 million.
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Boye--who also went by the name of Bobby Ajiboye and Bobby Aji-Boye--was arrested by the FBI in 2014 at Newark Liberty International Airport as he was returning from a trip abroad.
Admitted to practice law in New York, he had been retained by the government of Timor-Leste (formerly known as East Timor) in 2010 to advise the country on efforts to develop its offshore oil reserves.
According to court documents, Boye created the fraudulent Opus & Best bid in March 2012, with documents claiming the company had been founded in 1984 to provide accounting and economics services to the oil and gas sector. The bid also indicated the company was a registered legal and accounting services provider in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. None of that was true, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. Prosecutors said Opus & Best was not incorporated in New York until after the bid was submitted to Timor-Leste. In fact, Boye was the sole member of Opus & Best, said prosecutors.
Upon Boye's recommendation, Timor-Leste retained Opus & Best, and began a series of wire transfers that began in June 2012 to accounts controlled by Boye. Another Opus & Best entity was later registered in Hong Kong ,leading to a second attempt to enter into a tax consulting and advisory contract with the ministry, but Timor-Leste did not accept the proposal. He left the country soon after.
As part of his plea, Boye was required to forfeit his cars, his properties and the two watches.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
