The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced the convictions of two Nigerian nationals, Temitope Bashua and Uchechukwu Gideon Eze, who were sentenced to a combined prison term of four years and three months for their involvement in multiple fraud schemes amounting to $472,000.
According to statements obtained from the US DoJ website, the convicts engaged in fraudulent activities including filing fake benefit claims and orchestrating business email compromise schemes.
The first statement revealed that 29-year-old Bashua received a 30-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges including cyber intrusion, romance fraud, and business email compromise. The statement detailed that from May 2020 to September 2022, Bashua and co-conspirators “filed fraudulent benefit applications and received more than $290,000.”
The DoJ statement read, “U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Temitope Bashua, 29, a citizen of Nigeria, to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy and scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
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“According to his plea agreement, and other court documents, from May 2020 through September 2022, Bashua and others conspired to impersonate victims to obtain money by submitting fraudulent UI benefits claims. Bashua and his co-conspirators used the personally identifiable information without the victims’ knowledge or consent to submit fraudulent applications for UI benefits in Maryland and California.
“Additionally, in October 2020, as part of the conspiracy, co-conspirators submitted two fraudulent EIDL applications to the SBA for fictitious businesses using the PII of identity victims. As a result of the fraudulent EIDL applications, Bashua received more than $290,000 in U.S.”
In a separate statement, the DoJ said 46-year-old Eze was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $182,201 in restitution for his role in a business email compromise scheme. The statement explained that Eze and co-conspirators “operating from overseas carried out a business email compromise scheme that defrauded a small business to the tune of $182,200.”
It added, “That account, while appearing legitimate, was in fact controlled by Eze and registered under the name Blue Horizon Automobile LLC — a fictitious entity created solely to receive the stolen funds.
“As a result of the scheme, Eze received $182,201.80 in payments meant for the victim company. Once the transfers were complete, Eze quickly drained the account, spending much of the money on personal purchases, including a new vehicle.
“Upon realising the scheme had been uncovered, he fled the country. Approximately six months later, Eze attempted to re-enter the United States from Canada via a vehicle, at which time he was arrested by law enforcement.”
Following his arrest, Eze pleaded guilty to wire fraud. The DoJ statement confirmed, “Uchechukwu Gideon Eze, 46, of Nigeria, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to wire fraud. Eze has also been ordered to pay $182,201.80 in restitution.
“According to court documents, in April 2023, Eze and co-conspirators operating overseas orchestrated a sophisticated business email compromise scheme that defrauded a small business in Clark County, Indiana, of more than $182,000.”