CAPTION: Emmanuel Gift Masinde alias "Twitter Swindler" Flamboyant city advocate Cliff Ombeta has confirmed he will be appearing for controversial social media personality Emmanuel Gift Masinde who is faced with fraud allegations amounting to millions of shillings.
Speaking through a Twitter post on Monday, 7th March 2022, the firebrand criminal lawyer revealed that the decision was made following a candid one on one conversation with the 27-year-old whose name has been a major talking point across the Kenyan blogosphere.
According to Mr Ombeta, Masinde's side of the story paints a completely different scenario compared to what had been published by the Nation Media Group last week. "Today I met Masinde. Had a one on one conversation. His story in comparison to the article in nation weekend magazine is another side of the coin. Now he is ready. Kujeni kama mumejipanga," noted the law expert-cum-politician eyeing the Bonchari parliamentary seat in the upcoming August polls. Who is Gift Masinde? On March 5, 2022, Emmanuel Gift Masinde made the headlines after he appeared on the cover page of the Saturday Nation on allegations of defrauding at least 7 women a total of Ksh3.5 million.
The story quickly earned him the tag ‘Twitter Swindler’ even as he appeared to distance himself from the allegations, claiming the publication was after tarnishing his name.
In the article, the writer portrayed the young chap as a sharply dressed man who rides through life on the fast lane thanks to his ‘intricate connections’.
Masinde was accused of running the perfect scheme of scanning through details of career women and pouncing on those who appear desperate for a man to settle down with.
He would mostly start a conversation on Twitter, which would end up in private DM chats.
From there, matters got intimate.
As per witnesses who spoke to the local daily, Masinde had perfected the art of packaging himself as a man of means.
He showered the ladies with gifts and promises they could only dream about.
One female victim who opened up disclosed how she allegedly lost over Ksh1.2 million to Masinde after he duped her into believing that his family runs a lucrative chopper business that hires out helicopters to prominent persons.
He added that his mother is a former National Lands Commission (NLC) official and that the father was a CEO at an energy corporation.
He claimed that he had been left the responsibility to manage the family’s vast business empire that also included construction companies.
At one time, Masinde asked her for funds to ensure a chopper.
According to the career lawyer, Masinde alleged that his mother’s bank account had been frozen due to corruption allegations at NLC.
He assured her that their family lawyer would get everything under control.
Armed with fake documents and bank cheques, Masinde managed to obtain the said funds from the female lawyer.
Another lady identified as Nicole who works as a tax director is said to have lost over Ksh1 million to Masinde.
According to the lady, they first interacted on Twitter where Masinde had posed as a potential client seeking her services.
It took Masinde a few months to strike a romantic affair with the lady.
On claims that he had imported a BMW X-5 but had been held up at the port due to various charges, Masinde asked the lady to send him some money to which they agreed he would sell the car to her at a good price.
She took a Ksh936,000 loan and sent the money to Masinde.
She also sent a total of Ksh65,000 a few days later to cater for paperwork and waivers.
Little did she know that the car never existed and all the documents held by Masinde were fake. Masinde's side of the story Through his Twitter account, Masinde has rubbished the claims, saying that Nation Media journalist Leon Lidigu was ‘clout chasing’ and mudslinging him.
He went further to expose screenshots of romantic private conversations he had with one of the ladies who allegedly seduced him.
Additionally, Masinde claimed he never had an interview with Leon Lidigu as published and revealed a conversation in which he appeared to turn down the invitation.
Masinde also shared a copy of a demand letter addressed to his mother written by Rene and Hans Advocates which indicated he received Ksh1.2 million that went to servicing a family loan.