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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was contained in a statement obtained on the US Department of Justice website on Wednesday and signed by the acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, Ray Combs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comb stated, \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following their arrest, they were arraigned on multiple counts bordering on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering, which they pleaded guilty to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon their guilty plea, they were sentenced by the US District Judge, Amos Mazzant, to different years of jail term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDamilola Kumapayi, 39, of Plano, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to 109 months in federal prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSandra Iribhogbe Popnen, 50, of Plano, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 365 months in federal prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEdgal Iribhogbe, 51, of Allen, was found guilty at trial of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 480 months in federal prison,\u201d Combs stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added, \u201cChidindu Okeke, 32, of Houston, was found guilty at trial of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 480 months in federal prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChiagoziem Okeke, 32, of Houston, was found guilty at trial of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 480 months in federal prison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attorney stated that the sentencing was part of the US efforts to track down fraudsters who prey on its citizens, stressing that America remains resolute in bringing such fraudsters to justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTransnational organised criminals targeting the hard-earned savings of elderly and vulnerable populations are simply despicable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe defendants\u2019 lengthy sentences in this case reflect the seriousness of their crimes and the dedication of law enforcement officers and prosecutors to bring them to justice,\u201d Combs concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 the acting US Attorney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":49036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t