A New Haven, Connecticut, United States Court has sentenced a 39-year-old Nigerian, Okechukwu Valentine Osuji, to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of involvement in a large-scale business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
Osuji was sentenced on Thursday after prosecutors were able to prove that he operated across multiple countries, including the United States, and succeeded in defrauding numerous businesses and individuals by impersonating trusted entities in electronic communications.
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Osuji and his syndicate targeted victims across various sectors, including finance, non-profit arts organizations, and food services, using fraudulent email schemes to deceive recipients into transferring funds.
“They exploited both witting and unwitting money mules to receive and transfer the stolen money, diverting the funds into accounts controlled by the fraudsters,” the statement said.
“The victims of this scheme included businesses from Connecticut, Colorado, Alaska, New York, and beyond. Over the course of the operation, the conspirators were able to divert millions of dollars through fraudulent transactions, causing financial damage to their targets.
“The scheme also involved the exploitation of elderly individuals through romance scams to serve as some of the unwitting money mules, including one woman who testified at trial that she was duped into sending her own personal savings and income, including Social Security checks, to an individual she believed to be her romantic partner, but who was in fact one of Osuji’s co-conspirators.
“The scam resulted in the near-total depletion of her life savings, caused her to declare bankruptcy, and led to the repossession of her house.
“Meanwhile, her personal bank account was also used to facilitate the fraud against one of the companies targeted by Osuji.
“As a result of the scheme, losses and intended losses totalled over $6million.”
The Department said Osuji was arrested in Malaysia and extradited to the United States in 2022.
“On May 1, 2024, a jury in New Haven found Osuji guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
“At his sentencing hearing, Osuji was ordered to pay restitution to his victims. Osuji’s alleged co-conspirator, John Wamuigah, remains in Malaysia and is pending extradition proceedings. An indictment is merely an allegation, and Wamuigah is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the Department statement said.
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