A Nigerian man, Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, 34, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution for his involvement in a business email compromise (BEC) and computer hacking scheme that led to over $5 million in losses for victims in the U.S. and other countries.
Okwonna pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on May 20.
His accomplice, Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, was sentenced on August 27 to 10 years in prison and was also ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution.
Umeti was convicted in June of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer, and other charges.
Between 2016 and 2021, the two, along with their co-conspirators, sent phishing emails to businesses, which led to unauthorized wire transfers. These emails appeared to come from trusted sources and contained malware that gave the defendants access to victims’ computers and email accounts. They then used this information to trick employees into transferring funds to the criminals’ accounts.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case, with support from various federal and international agencies.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Withers and Senior Counsel Thomas S. Dougherty from the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Both Umeti and Okwonna were extradited from Kenya to face charges in the U.S.
