Nigerian Jailed In The US For Over N1 Billion Fraud

Emmanuel Ehkator, 42, has been sentenced to
3 years in prison by a District Court Judge in
the District of Pennsylvania, United States for
$11m fraud. Ehkator was also investigated by
the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) for criminal conspiracy to
commit mail and wire fraud. The accused has
been ordered by the court to pay
$11,092,028 “in restitution” to his victims.
Ehkator’s property in Canada and the
“contents of several bank accounts” in Nigeria
were also declared forfeited by Justice Yvette
Kane.
The EFCC Head, Media and Publicity, Mr
Wilson Uwujaren, said the commission had in
August 2010, arrested Emmanuel Ehkator in
Nigeria and was subsequently extradited to
the US a year after following his plea of guilt.
It was revealed that Ehkator was part of an
“attorney collection scam” in which he would
contact US and Canadian law firms by email
claiming to be individuals or businesses
outside North America owed money by
entities in the US and asked for legal
representation to collect money...
The prosecutor had said, “Often, the
prospective clients said the money owed came
from a real estate transaction, tort claim,
or divorce settlement. Once the law
firm agreed to represent the out-of-country
client, the law firm would be contacted by the
US entity purportedly owing money with an
offer to pay the client by cheque.
“The debtor company would advise the law
firm to deposit the cheque in the law firm’s
trust account, retain the law firm’s fee, and
wire the remaining funds to accounts in Asia.”
It was learnt that after funds from the law
firm’s trust account had been wired to the
Asian bank, it would then be discovered that
the cheque that had been mailed to the law
firm was a counterfeit.
The counterfeit cheques, which appeared to
be drawn on legitimate accounts from well-
established financial institutions, often
included a telephone number for the financial
institution.
In an attempt to determine the validity of the
cheque, lawyers would call the number only
to reach another conspirator who would
falsely verify the cheque.
Ehkator’s co-defendant, Yvette Mathurin, was
said to have been charged for conspiracy and
was awaiting extradition from Canada.
Another co-conspirator, Kingsley Osagie, was
arrested as he arrived in the Atlanta, Georgia
area from Nigeria and was said to be currently
awaiting trial in the Middle District of
Pennsylvania.
Source: Punch