A 45-year-old Nigerian, Okeoghene Patrick Udugba, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States over his alleged role in a romance scam and business email compromise operation involving money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud conspiracy.
The indictment was announced on Wednesday by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which accused Udugba, a resident of Frisco, Texas, of coordinating the alleged schemes with other suspects.
According to the statement, “Udugba and others orchestrated overlapping romance and business email compromise schemes.
“As part of the scheme, Udugba and others utilized social media and dating websites to meet and establish purported romantic relationships with persons in multiple states.
“Those persons were groomed and ultimately used by Udugba and others as money mules to receive and cash fraudulently obtained checks.”
Prosecutors alleged that members of the group sent spoofed emails from Nigeria while impersonating officials of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
The statement further said, “The spoofed emails directed that FWS grant funds be used to pay fabricated invoices, which falsely represented that the money mules were contractors and consultants of FWS who had performed work on grant-eligible projects.
“As a result of the fraudulent emails and invoices, FWS’s grant administrator issued payments in excess of $300,000.”
The US Attorney’s Office said the investigation is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah R. Lloyd.
Authorities said the prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force’s broader effort to dismantle transnational criminal organisations involved in fraud.
The statement also noted that “the maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 30 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.”
It, however, stressed that “Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.”
