A Nigerian, identified as Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, has pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to defrauding over 400 victims in the United States.
He defrauded more than $6 million from his victims, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable.
The 36-year-old was a member of a gang of fraudsters who defrauded elderly victims in the U.S. for several years by sending them personalised letters.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the letters sent by Ogbata and his gang were written with inheritance scam intent.
“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 gang would lie to their victims, telling them that they had to send a certain amount of money before they could access or receive the “inheritance.” They would request taxes, delivery fees, and other payments from their unsuspecting victims.
This was done to evade being probed by the U.S. Government.
The victims would send money in anticipation of receiving the inheritance, but they never got anything in return.
“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 it 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.”
His next court appearance is scheduled for April 14, when his sentence will be delivered by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman.
If found guilty by the court in April, Ogbata is likely to receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
