ONLY ON ABC7NEWS.COM: Former star witness in Hillsborough heiress murder trial fighting back against new federal fraud allegations

ByEd Walsh KGO logo
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Exclusive: Former star witness in Hillsborough heiress murder trial fighting new allegations
Olivier Adella, the former star witness in the murder case against Hillsborough heiress Tiffany Li and her boyfriend Kaveh Bayat, is fighting back against new charges that he committed passport fraud.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- Olivier Adella, the former star witness in the murder case against Hillsborough heiress Tiffany Li and her boyfriend Kaveh Bayat, is fighting back against new charges that he committed passport fraud.

In an exclusive jailhouse interview with ABC7 News Friday evening, Adella adamantly denies that he is using a false name.

Adella spoke by phone from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He told ABC7 News that the decision by federal authorities to pick him up after being released from San Mateo County Jail Friday afternoon came as a shock to him, his lawyer and his family. Adella said that he was devastated that he wasn't able to see his family and be able to go back to work to help support them.

Adella called the allegation that he is using a false name "bull ----" and said he was booked into Santa Rita jail under the name Mustapha Traore. He said the name was supplied by Li's legal team and that he believes the source of the name was his ex wife. He said Mustapha was a nickname that he used and that he never used the last name, Traore.

RELATED: Who's Who in Hillsborough Heiress murder case

The surprise development of Adella's re-arrest Friday afternoon on federal charges follows some very emotional moments in court Friday morning in Redwood City during Adella's sentencing.

The family of victim Keith Green spoke directly to Adella who admitted dumping Green's body in Sonoma County in 2016.

Green's aunt and his mother spoke out in court before the sentencing blaming Adella for Green's death and impressing on him how their lives were devastated because of his actions.

RELATED: MURDER MYSTERY TIMELINE: The disappearance of Millbrae resident Keith Green

"It's 3:30 a.m. and I am awake, for the past three-and-a-half years I am awake at 3:30 a.m. Did my son suffer physically or emotionally?" Colleen Cudd asked rhetorically answering that she believed he did suffer.

"You have cut a hole in my heart that will never grow back," Cudd told Adella.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles spoke directly to Cudd during sentencing expressing his condolences over her loss and saying that his hands were tied. He said that Adella had already served the maximum time in jail for the charge of being an accessory after the fact.

Prosecutors say that on April 28, 2016, Li lured Green to her Hillsborough mansion where he was shot by Bayat. But in November a jury found Li not guilty. The jury could not reach a verdict on Bayat. He was released from jail last month after the district attorney's office decided not to retry him.

Adella told ABC7 Friday that he was told he would be taken to federal court in San Francisco Monday morning where he would appear to face charges related to passport fraud.