Elvis Eghosa Ogiekpolor, a Nigerian living in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a district court for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering on Monday.

According to the information made available on the website of the US Department of Justice, Ogiekpolor and other members of his syndicate, fraudulently opened about 50 business bank accounts and used them to collect over $9.5 million, being proceeds of business email compromise scams (BECs) and romance fraud, realised from several unsuspecting victims between 2018 and 2020.

The bank accounts were said to have been opened in Georgia in the names of numerous fake companies.

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“Multiple romance fraud victims, mainly women, testified at trial. The victims recounted how they met male strangers online and were soon convinced they were in a romantic relationship with the men, even though the victims were in communication with the individuals for months without meeting in person,” a statement released by the department on the matter reads in part.

“Often these men claimed they wanted to start a life with the victims and were eager to live with them as soon as some kind of issue was resolved. For example, one romance fraud victim was convinced to wire $32,000 to one of the accounts Ogiekpolor controlled because her “boyfriend” (one of the men online) claimed a part of his oil rig needed to be replaced but that his bank account was frozen.

“This victim borrowed against her retirement and savings to provide the funds, which ultimately required her to refinance her home to pay back the loan.

“Another victim testified that she was convinced to send nearly $70,000 because the man she met on eHarmony claimed to need money to promptly make payment on several invoices due to a frozen bank account.”

While delivering his judgment, William Ray II, the presiding judge, sentenced Ogiekpolor to 25 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

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The Nigerian was also said to have used eight people as “money mules” while perpetrating the fraud.

Five other ladies, identified as Ogiekpolor’s co-conspirators are Vere Whyte, Kutina Crawford, Ebony Parks, Tiffany Gaines and Tamara Gaines. They all pleaded guilty to charges bothering around fraud at separate hearings between November 2021 and July 2022.

The court will schedule another hearing to determine the amount of restitution that Ogiekpolor owes at a later date.