Farouk Boudjemline (known as Rifka) and Mohamed Aberkane (known as Stanley) were tried by the Court of Algiers for “criminal association, forgery and use of forgery, theft, fraud, money laundering”. Their co-accused Numidia Lezoul, prosecuted for the same charges, was acquitted.
At first instance, they were all three sentenced to one year in prison each and a fine of the equivalent of 650 euros for having promoted the services of an agency, “Future Gate”, which had defrauded many Algerian students. wishing to study abroad, particularly in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
The agency charged students large sums of money for a commitment to take care of their university registration and provide them with accommodation, but left them to their fate once there.
The three influencers, well known in Algeria, were detained last January after a complaint from 75 students.
The agency’s boss, Oussama Rezagui, was sentenced to six years in prison (against seven years at first instance) and a heavy fine.