A United States court docket has sentenced a 39-year-old Nigerian nationwide, Okechukwu Osuji, to eight years’ imprisonment for defrauding organisations and people to the tune of $6m.
Osuji was sentenced in New Haven, Connecticut on Wednesday for working a enterprise e mail compromise scheme out of a number of nations, together with the USA.
Equally, his Nigerian confederate, Tolulope Bodunde pleaded responsible and was sentenced to 2 years in jail on October 16, 2024.
The Division of Justice disclosed this on Thursday including that Osuji was apprehended in Malaysia and extradited to the US in 2022.
In accordance with paperwork and statements made in court docket, Osuji and his co-conspirators focused particular people and companies by impersonating dependable organisations in digital communications to acquire cash.
The paperwork revealed that Osuji had used his victims as “cash mules” to obtain fraud proceeds of their financial institution accounts.
He would then both switch these funds from the cash mule accounts to accounts beneath the co-conspirators’ management or convert the stolen proceeds to money for additional switch.
“Over time-long operation of the scheme, quite a few victims had been tricked into transferring funds into financial institution accounts the victims believed had been beneath the management of professional recipients as a part of regular enterprise operations,” DOJ acknowledged.
The US justice company asserted that the financial institution accounts had been managed by Osuji and his accomplices.
It mentioned, “The victims included a Connecticut-based monetary firm, a Colorado-based lending firm, an Alaska-based nonprofit performing arts organisation, a New York-based meals and beverage firm, and plenty of others.”
The 39-year-old was additionally concerned in exploiting the aged by romance scams to function a few of the unwitting cash mules, together with one lady who testified at trial that she was duped into sending her financial savings and revenue, social safety cheques to a person she believed to be her romantic accomplice, however who later occurred to be Osuji’s co-conspirators.
On Could 1, 2024, a jury in New Haven discovered Osuji responsible of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identification theft.
Osuji was ordered to pay restitution to his victims.
His alleged co-conspirator, John Wamuigah, stays in Malaysia and is pending extradition proceedings.
