SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 14, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Three foreign national men who lived in Utah have been sentenced after pleading guilty to participation in a money laundering ring that aided and abetted the defrauding of more than a hundred victims, primarily widows.
A news release from the United State’s Attorney’s Office, District of Utah, says the men’s scheme was to obtain money by creating online profiles pretending to be a United States soldier, international businessmen, or some other seemingly attractive profile, and using those profiles to develop relationships with victims in order to get money.
On Thursday, Vinyard resident David Oguoguo Okeke, 30, was sentenced to 54 months imprisonment and 36 months supervised release, after pleading guilty to money laundering conspiracy. Okeke was ordered to pay $2,219,802.97 in restitution. Upon release from imprisonment, Okeke will be remanded to the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation proceedings.
Okeke’s codefendants, Justin Akubueze, 30, and Abiemwense Valentine Obanor, 32, both formerly of Vineyard, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Akubueze was sentenced to 54 months imprisonment, and Obanor was sentenced to 74 months. Each defendant was sentenced to 36 months supervised release and ordered to pay $219,802.97 in restitution jointly with Okeke.
When their associates were charged with similar crimes in a different case, (see a news release here), Akubueze and Obanor left the United States. After a federal grand jury returned an indictment against them, they were extradited to the United States to face the charges against them.
Trina A. Higgins, U.S. Attorney, District of Utah, said her office “will continue to prosecute fraudsters who take advantage of victims, many of whom are elderly, on a fixed income and lose money intended to carry them throughout the rest of their life.
“Taking advantage of our most vulnerable population is unacceptable and with our law enforcement partners we are committed to investigating these crimes.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl D. Lesueur for the District of Utah.
