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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Two Nigerians have been jailed by a United States (US) federal court over their involvement in a wire fraud.
Franklin Okwonna, 34, and Ebuka Umeti, 35, were convicted for causing over $5 million in losses to multiple victims in the US and elsewhere.
A statement by the US Department of Justice on Wednesday said Okwonna pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft” on May 20, and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
Umeti also pleaded guilty to “wire fraud, conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer,” and was convicted on June 13. He was sentenced on August 27 to 10 years in prison.
Both men were asked to pay “nearly $5 million each as restitution.”
“According to court documents and evidence presented at Umeti’s trial, between February 2016 and July 2021, Umeti, Okwonna, and their co-conspirators caused millions of dollars in unauthorised wire transfers by sending victim businesses phishing emails.
“These emails falsely appeared as though they originated from trusted sources, such as a bank or a vendor.
“After the victim opened an attachment, their computers would be infected with malicious software or “malware,” that allowed the defendants and their co-conspirators to gain unauthorised access to the victim’s computer systems and email accounts.
“The defendants and their co-conspirators then exploited that access to obtain sensitive information, which they used to deceive individuals at the victim companies into executing wire transfers to accounts specified by the co-conspirators.
“As a result of this scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused or attempted to cause over $5 million in losses to the victim companies,” the DOJ said.
The statement added that both men were extradited to the US.
