A United States Federal Jury has sentenced two Nigerians, Okechukwu Osuji and Tolulope Bodunde to a combined jail term of 10 years over a $6 million fraud.
Edum News gathered that the duo were co-conspirators in a business email compromise scheme.
Their conviction was contained in a press statement signed by the Office of the Public Affairs, US Department of Justice on Friday.
The statement revealed that Osuji and Bodunde were jailed following their conviction in a fraudulent scheme that targeted US companies and elderly citizens, leading to a loss of about $6 million to their victims.
The statement partly reads, “Okechuckwu Valentine Osuji, 39, a Nigerian national, was sentenced yesterday in New Haven, Connecticut, to eight years in prison for operating a business email compromise scheme out of multiple countries, including the United States.
“According to court documents and statements made in court, Osuji and his co-conspirators targeted specific individuals and businesses by masquerading as trustworthy entities in electronic communications to obtain money.
“They used witting and unwitting ‘money mules’ to receive fraud proceeds in their bank accounts and then either transferred those funds from the money mule accounts to accounts under the co-conspirators’ control or converted the stolen proceeds to cash for further transfer.
“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 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.
“As a result of the scheme, losses and intended losses totalled over $6 million. At his sentencing hearing, Osuji was ordered to pay restitution to his victims.”
