Akinlabi Emmanuel
Okechukwu Osuji and Tolulope Bodunde, co-conspirators in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme, have been sentenced to a combined 10 years in prison by a United States federal jury.
According to a press statement from the US Department of Justice, the fraudulent scheme targeted US companies and elderly citizens, resulting in losses of approximately $6 million.
Osuji received an eight-year sentence on Wednesday, while Bodunde was sentenced to two years on October 16, 2024. Both were convicted for their roles in the elaborate scam.
The statement disclosed that court documents indicated that 39-year-old Osuji alongside his conspirators, often pretended as trustworthy entities by communicating with their victims to obtain money.
It read, “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.”
While chronicling the modus operandi of the convicts, the statement stressed that they lure their victims into transferring money into a bank account under their control.
One of the convicts’ victims was said to have been declared bankrupt after depleting her life savings to a member of the group.
It continued, “The victims included a Connecticut-based financial company, a Colorado-based lending company, an Alaska-based nonprofit performing arts organisation, 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 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 said to have been extradited from Malaysia in 2022 and was found guilty of “conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft” on May 1, 2024.
“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.
“Another co-conspirator, Tolulope Bodunde, also a citizen of Nigeria, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Oct. 16 to two years in prison,” the statement concluded.
