A US-based Nigerian, Tochukwu Nwosisi has been sentenced to three years in prison by a federal court in Houston, Texas for his role in an international advance-fee scheme orchestrated by Nigerians, that defrauded victims worldwide of over $5.6 million.
On March 4, Indiana-based Nwosisi was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit money laundering and concealment of money laundering.
Quoting court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Department of Justice said 52-year-old Nwosisi, from at least February 2015 to January 2018, participated in an advance-fee scheme involving fraudulent offers of investment funding and inheritances to victims around the world.
Nwosisi’s Nigeria-based co‑conspirators induced victims to make large wire payments to bank accounts in the United States on the false belief that payment of the purported advance fees was necessary before the bank would release their funding or inheritance.
Nwosisi served as a money launderer who accepted victim funds into his U.S.-based bank accounts and directed the proceeds to the ringleaders in Nigeria.
A federal jury in Houston convicted Nwosisi on March 4 of conspiracy to commit money laundering and concealment of money laundering.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Williams Jr. of the FBI Houston Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Hileman of the Department of State Office of Inspector General (DOS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI and DOS-OIG investigated the case.
US District Judge Alfred H. Bennett ordered Nwosisi to serve 36 months in federal prison, immediately followed by two years of supervised release.
The convict was also ordered to pay $905,945 in restitution