The Office of Public Affairs, US Justice Department reports that according to court documents, Amos was a member of a group of fraudsters that sent personalised letters to elderly victims in the US, falsely claiming 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 years before in Portugal.
A 50-year-old Nigerian national, Amos Prince Okey Ezemma, 50, has been sentenced to 85 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme in the United States.
The Office of Public Affairs, US Justice Department reports that according to court documents, Amos was a member of a group of fraudsters that sent personalised letters to elderly victims in the US, falsely claiming 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 years before in Portugal.
Victims were told that before they could receive their purported inheritance, they were required to send money for delivery fees and taxes and were instructed to make other payments.
Victims sent money to the defendants through a complex web of U.S.-based former victims.
The defendant and his co-conspirators also convinced former victims to receive money from new victims and then forward the fraud proceeds to others.
With Amos' conviction, each of the six defendants connected with the matter has been sentenced.
Each of Ezemma’s five co-defendants has been sentenced to prison for their roles in the scheme.
On June 21, 2023, the Honorable Kathleen M. Williams sentenced Emmanuel Samuel to 82 months in prison. On July 25, 2023, Judge Williams sentenced Jerry Chucks Ozor to 87 months in prison. On August 29, 2023, Judge Williams sentenced Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham to 90 months in prison.
On October 20, 2023, Judge Williams sentenced Kennedy Ikponmwosa to 87 months in prison. And on November 2, 2023, Judge Williams sentenced Peter Ezennia Neboh to 128 months in prison. Judge Williams also ordered Ezemma and his co-defendants to pay more than $6 million in restitution to their over 400 victims.
“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch will continue to pursue, prosecute and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S. consumers, wherever they are located,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“Targeting the elderly for pure financial gain is beyond shameful, it’s morally reprehensible,” said Special Agent in Charge Fransisco B. Burrola of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Arizona.