April 28 (UPI) — A Nigerian national has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for an international fraud scheme that bilked hundreds of elderly U.S. victims out of millions of dollars, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, 36, and a group of co-conspirators, sent letters to elderly U.S. citizens, falsely claiming that he was a representative of a bank in Spain and that the victims had inherited a multimillion-dollar estate from a long-lost family member, according to court documents.
In order to receive their money, the victims were told to send funds for delivery fees, taxes and other payments. Ogbata admitted to defrauding more than $6 million from more than 400 U.S. victims. He pleaded guilty for his role in the transnational inheritance fraud scheme and was sentenced Friday to 97 months in prison.
“The long arm of the American justice system has no limits when it comes to reaching fraudsters who prey on our nation’s must vulnerable populations, to include the elderly,” said U.S. Attorney Hayden 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,” Byrne added.
In announcing Ogbata’s sentencing, the Justice Department reminded seniors over the age of 60 to report financial fraud to the department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11.
“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,” Special Agent in Charge Francisco Burrola of Homeland Security Investigations Arizona said in a statement.
“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.”
