Letter from America: to swindler-in-chief Fitsum Arega former Ethiopian Ambassador in Washington DC.
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Tilahun D. Yilma is a Distinguished Professor of Virology in the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis)
Selam,
The former Ethiopian Ambassador in Washington, DC, Fitsum Arega, was the “Swindler-in-Chief” of the Ethiopian Diaspora in North America during my tenure on the Ethiopian COVID-19 Advisory Council. On several occasions, Fitsum solicited contributions from Advisory Council members for various causes in Ethiopia. Personally, I made three separate contributions: one amounting to US $1,000, the second in support of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile for US $10,000, and the third, another US $10,000 designated for Gonder University Hospital to aid in the treatment and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers from the TPLF conflict in Tigray (copies of the two checks on a single page are attached). Fitsum mentioned my contributions during our meetings, intending to encourage other members to do the same. However, I never received an official acknowledgment for any of my contributions or assurance of the delivery of the funds to the designated projects. In fact, I intentionally sent a letter to Gonder to confirm the delivery of the money. I was devastated to learn from the President of Gonder University that not a single penny had reached the University Hospital. Despite my repeated attempts through emails, texts, and phone calls, Fitsum adamantly refused to respond.
Fitsum arrived in the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland for one of his schemes targeting the Ethiopian diaspora for fleecing. He requested a meeting with me, and I took him out to dinner in San Francisco on September 19, 2021 (Photo Attached). During our meeting, I discussed various issues that I had raised in a letter sent to him on July 8, 2020. However, he appeared completely ignorant of the topics I had brought up, indicating that he had never read my letter. He boasted to me about collecting more than US $240,000 during his visit to the Bay Area. He mentioned bringing Ethiopian memorabilia for auction and sale to the highest bidder, all while displaying the Ethiopian flag at these events. He exploited our Ethiopian flaw; we love to compete and show off who is most generous in public.
During his three-year stint in Washington, DC, Fitsum’s primary task was rallying and organizing the Ethiopian diaspora, while extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars from them supposedly to support various projects in Ethiopia. There was a significant display of the Ethiopian flag during these fund-raising efforts. Ironically, this is the same flag that his Prime Minister, Abiy, prohibited from being displayed at the Statue of Emperor Menelik during the Adwa Victory Day commemoration. Even more shocking, during the prayer celebration and Adwa commemoration at the location of Emperor Menelik’s Statue, Abiy’s security personnel tear-gassed the priests of St. George Church.
I would like to inquire and even solicit assistance regarding the possibility of initiating an investigation and pursuing legal action to ascertain the whereabouts of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Fitsum has fraudulently obtained from the Ethiopian diaspora in North America.
Ke’akbrot gar,
