$5m fraud: Two Nigerians jailed 15 years in US
Two Nigerian nationals have been sentenced to 15 years and three months imprisonment for defrauding several people in the United States of over $5m.
Franklin Okwonna, 34, was sentenced to five years and three months on Tuesday by a US federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia “for participating in a computer hacking and business email compromise scheme that caused over $5m in losses to multiple victims.”
In a press release by the Office of Public Affairs of the Department of Justice, Okwonna pleaded guilty on May 20, “to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his role in the scheme.”
The 34-year-old was also ordered to pay nearly $5m in restitution for the fraudulent activities he was involved in from February 2016 to July 2021.
Meanwhile, Okwonna’s Nigerian accomplice, Ebuka Umeti, 35, was sentenced on August 27 to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $5m in restitution.
“Umeti was convicted by a federal jury on June 13 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer,” said DOJ.
The statement disclosed that both Nigerians participated in the fraud with their co-conspirators to dupe several American people and other victims of millions of dollars by using phony business emails while disguising themselves as banks or vendors.
