Published 22nd Oct, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

Kenneth Ogudu, a Nigerian residing in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America, has been sentenced to two years and two months in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to the information made available on the website of the US Department of Justice, 28-year-old Ogudu, who is also known as Kenneth Lee, participated in a romance fraud scheme that defrauded more than 200 victims, many of them elderly US citizens, of at least $2.5 million. They fell victim to Ogudu’s fraudulent scheme between May and December 2019.

Ogudu’s scheme targeted individuals looking for romantic partners, friendship and other close personal and business relationships on dating websites across the US.

The Nigerian’s conspirators were said to have also created profiles using fictitious names, locations and images that allowed him and others to contact victims and cultivate relationships with them.

After making his victims believe they were truly in a romantic or business relationship, Ogudu and his team persuaded them to send money for a variety of false and fraudulent reasons.

The victims transferred funds worth $2.5 million to Ogudu’s bank account in eight months.

While facing charges at a district court in West Virginia, Ogudu admitted that he disguised the illegal nature of the funds he had transferred while his co-conspirators transferred large sums of their fraud proceeds to offshore accounts.

Ogudu’s time in prison is to be followed by a three-year supervised release and the payment of $324,865.85 in restitution.

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