Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Nigerian national was sentenced on Friday to 97 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme.
According to court documents, Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, 36, was a member of a group of fraudsters that sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the United States over the course of several years. The letters falsely claimed that the sender was a representative of a bank in Spain and that the recipient was entitled to receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance left for the recipient by a family member who had died overseas years before. Ogbata and his co-conspirators told a series of lies to victims, including that, before they could receive their purported inheritance, they were required to send money for delivery fees, taxes, and other payments to avoid questioning from government authorities. Ogbata and his co-conspirators collected money victims sent in response to the fraudulent letters through a complex web of U.S.-based former victims, whom the defendants convinced to receive money and forward to the defendants or persons associated with them. Victims who sent money never received any purported inheritance funds. In pleading guilty, Ogbata admitted to defrauding over $6 million from more than 400 victims, many of whom were elderly or otherwise vulnerable.
“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch will continue to pursue, prosecute, and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S. consumers, wherever they are located,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov M. Roth of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This case is a testament to the critical role of international collaboration in tackling transnational crime. I want to thank our U.S. law enforcement partners, as well as those who assisted across the globe, including the Portuguese Judicial Police and Public Prosecution Service of Portugal, for their outstanding contributions to this case.”
“The long arm of the American justice system has no limits when it comes to reaching fraudsters who prey on our nation’s most vulnerable populations, to include the elderly,” said U.S. Attorney Hayden P. Byrne for the Southern District of Florida. “We will not allow transnational criminals to steal money from the public we serve. Individuals who defraud American consumers will be brought to justice, no matter where they are located.”
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has a long history of protecting American citizens from these types of schemes and bringing those responsible to justice,” said Acting Postal Inspector in Charge Steven Hodges of the USPIS Miami Division. “Today’s sentencing is a testament to the dedicated partnership between the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, HSI and USPIS to protect our citizens from these scams.”
“It’s inconceivable to imagine any human being robbing from those who’ve spent a lifetime working and building a life, and then are duped out of it all,” said Special Agent in Charge Fransisco B. Burrola of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Arizona. “Together, with our law enforcement partners, we will not tolerate this kind of behavior – we will bring justice to those who have wronged and stolen from so many people.”
Senior Trial Attorney and Transnational Criminal Litigation Coordinator Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorneys Josh Rothman and Brianna Gardner of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case. USPIS and HSI investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Europol, and authorities from the UK, Spain, and Portugal all provided critical assistance.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This U.S. Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish, and other languages are available.
More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Department of Justice provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov.