Nigerian jailed in US for $11m fraud

A Nigerian, Emmanuel Ehkator, has
been sentenced by a District Court
Judge, Middle District of
Pennsylvania in the United States to
three years in prison for $11m
fraud.
Ehkator, who was also investigated
by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission for criminal
conspiracy to commit mail and wire
fraud, was 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.
A statement by the EFCC Head,
Media and Publicity, Mr Wilson
Uwujaren, said the commission had
in August 2010, arrested 42–year-
old Ehkator in Nigeria. He was
subsequently extradited to the US a
year after following his plea of guilt.
The statement said the prosecutor,
Assistant US Attorney, Christy H.
Fawcett, told the court that Ehkator
was part of an "attorney collection
scam" in which he would contact US
and Canadian law firms by email.
It said Ehkator would claim 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.
The United States Postal Inspection
Service, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the United States
Secret Service, the Toronto Police
Services and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police were said to be
involved in the investigations into
the wire fraud.
Ehkator's involvement in the scheme
was said to have made him
responsible for losses of "more
than $7m and up to $20m."