A Nigerian information technology worker, Chukwuemeka Onyegbula, has been indicted on wire fraud and identity theft charges by a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington.
Acting US attorney for the western district of Washington, Tessa Gorman announced the indictment in a statement by the department of justice.
Authorities said Onyegbula using the name "Phillip Carter," with his co-conspirators was linked to at least 253 fraudulent filings for unemployment benefits in 17 states, AP reports.
The Nigerian was identified as an information technology engineer with Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited.
He was arrested on June 3 and is said to be currently detained in Nigeria. It is not yet clear if he will be extradited to the United States for trial.
According to prosecutors, Washington, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Nevada, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin paid out a total of nearly $290,000 (N119 million) on claims of unemployment.
They also stated that the federal Small Business Administration paid out $54,000 (N22 million) in COVID-19 economic disaster claims filed by Onyegbula and his co-conspirators.
Washington state was severely victimised by fraudulent claims for pandemic-related benefits. It likely paid out more than $647 million in such fraudulent claims, though $370 million was recovered, according to state officials.
The indictment further alleged that Onyegbula and his co-conspirators accessed the COVID-19 economic injury disaster loan (EIDL) page on the small business administration’s website and submitted applications for loans using the “stolen” personal identifiable information (PII) of US residents.
The statement issued on Thursday by the US justice department reads, “Onyegbula allegedly used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems. By using this practice, Onyegbula made it appear that each claim was connected to a different email account,”
“The email account used for fraud was linked to Onyegbula by various electronic evidence such as phone numbers and IP addresses. The email account contained information such as a visa application receipt, banking information and homework assignments by Onyegbula’s son. The cyber evidence also includes dozens of tax return information for U.S. citizens.
“Conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison when the offense relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year sentence to run consecutive to any sentence imposed on the other counts of conviction.
“This case is being investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). The Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division provided substantial assistance. The Washington Employment Security Department is cooperating in the investigation.”
SaharaReporters recalls a similar case involving Abidemi Rufai, a senior special assistant to Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun, who was arrested in the US over alleged fraud.
Rufai, who served as the Deputy Director-General of the Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organisation in the last governorship election in the state, was arrested at the JFK Airport in New York, the United States of America, on a criminal complaint of wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department, the acting US Attorney, Tessa M. Gorman, announced.
CRIME News AddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :https://ift.tt/3640nlo
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