$17m fraud: US court jails five Nigerians 159 years

US Court

A United States of America court has sentenced five Nigerians to over 159 years of combined jail term for defrauding over 100 Americans, companies and government entities to the tune of $17m.

This was contained in a statement obtained on the US Department of Justice website on Wednesday and signed by acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, Ray Combs.

The statement noted that the defendants, Damilola Kumapayi, Sandra Iribhogbe, Edgal Iribhogbe, Chidindu Okeke and Chiagoziem Okeke, were part of a transnational organised crime group.

The attorney stressed that the defendants began the scheme in 2017 and targeted elderly and vulnerable people by deploying several schemes to obtain money from their victims and in some cases, the life savings of these victims.

Comb stated, “The defendants coordinated how to extract money from their victims, and then how to disguise, disburse, and launder that money once they successfully defrauded their victims.

“The scheme resulted in approximately $17 million fraudulently obtained from at least 100 individual victims, companies, and government entities from across the world. The scheme specifically targeted elderly persons and used various schemes, such as online dating sites, to lure their victims.

“Once funds were obtained from their victims, the defendants laundered the money through a network of various bank accounts and sent money to bank accounts, co-conspirators and businesses located in Africa and Asia.”

Following their arrest, they were arraigned on multiple counts bordering on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering, which they pleaded guilty to.

Upon their guilty plea, they were sentenced by US District Judge Amos Mazzant to different years of jail terms.

“Damilola Kumapayi, 39, of Plano, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to 109 months in federal prison.