Okechukwu Nwofor, 32, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced on 11 August by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, who also ordered him to pay USD392,296 in restitution. The total losses in this scheme exceeded USD930,000.

In his plea agreement, Nwofor admitted to leading a money laundering conspiracy from at least July 2018 to August 2019. Nwofor used a network of individuals who received fraudulent proceeds obtained from the victims of romance and business email compromise scams. Once the illicitly obtained funds were received, Nwofor and his conspirators quickly withdrew or transferred funds into accounts they controlled.

To accomplish this scheme, Nwofor opened bank accounts in his name and the name of an Albany, New York-based company he founded, Juboy New Generation Inc. Using these bank accounts as well as others controlled by his conspirators, Nwofor regularly laundered money stolen by his co-conspirators via romance scams and business email compromise scams. The moneys were sent to them from victims via interstate wires.

For example, in September 2018, a romance scam victim, who was a Pasadena resident, wired approximately $19,000 to a New York-based bank account controlled by one of Nwofor’s accomplices. Over the course of three days, this accomplice – at Nwofor’s direction – wired approximately $16,140 of the victim’s stolen money to a Nwofor-controlled bank account.

“[Nwofor] and his co-conspirators’ fraudulent conduct has left many of the victims in dire straits, including one victim’s inability to care for her disabled son, the foreclose of another’s home, and even one victim tragically taking her own life,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.

Four other defendants in this case admitted their roles as so-called money mules and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Three of them received probationary sentences and one awaits sentencing.

Nwofor typically charged his conspirators approximately 20% of the incoming funds, and then distributed a portion of the remaining funds to his accomplices and others.

Question: were they conspirators or customers?

Source: DoJ California