A 39-year-old Nigerian national, Okechuckwu Valentine Osuji, was sentenced in New Haven, Connecticut, to eight years in prison for operating a business email compromise scheme out of multiple countries, including the United States.
Osuji was sentenced on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, two years after he was arrested in Malaysia and extradited to the United States in 2022.
The United States Department of Justice announced this in a statement on Thursday, December 5.
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.
Over the years-long operation of the scheme, numerous victims were tricked into transferring funds into bank accounts the victims believed were under the control of legitimate recipients as part of normal business operations. In reality, the bank accounts were controlled by Osuji and his co-conspirators.
The victims included a Connecticut-based financial company, a Colorado-based lending company, an Alaska-based nonprofit performing arts organization, a New York-based food and beverage company, and many others.
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. Her personal bank account was also used to facilitate the fraud against one of the companies targeted by Osuji.
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. As a result of the scheme, losses and intended losses totaled over $6 million. 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.
Another co-conspirator, Tolulope Bodunde, also a citizen of Nigeria, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Oct. 16 to two years in prison.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery for the District of Connecticut; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Fuller of the FBI New Haven Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI New Haven Field Office and the Stamford Police Department investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, Royal Malaysia Police, and Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers provided valuable assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Osuji.
Trial Attorney Lydia Lichlyter of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel for the District of Connecticut are prosecuting the case.
