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SCARS|RSN™ BREAKING SCAM NEWS: Nigerian Man Okechukwu Desmond Bags 11 Years Jail Term
Okechukwu Desmond Bags 11 Years Jail Term For Laundering Money For Black Axe Group In US
US$833,625 Will Be Paid Back To Victims
A Nigerian man sentenced to 11 years in U.S prison for international fraud, money laundering scheme coordinated by Black Axe group
As part of Amadi’s sentence, the court also entered a forfeiture order of $833,625 against him, representing the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct, and ordered Amadi to pay $1,358,500 in restitution to the victims.
A jury had found Amadi guilty on November 7, 2018.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Amadi worked with an international criminal organization based in Nigeria that defrauded dozens of victims across the United States with multiple schemes and then laundered the funds through a complex network of bank accounts.
The organization, known as the Neo Black Movement of Africa or the Black Axe Group, coordinated the fraud and money laundering activity around the globe via cells or “zones” in Nigeria, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.
The Black Axe fraud schemes took several forms. Many of the organization’s victims were widowed or divorced elderly women. Conspirators posed as fake suitors on dating websites to develop relationships with the victims. They then convinced the women to wire money, often consisting of their retirement savings and cash taken out from home equities to bank accounts in the United States as part of a supposed investment opportunity.
The conspirators also defrauded title companies with fake cashier’s checks in phony real estate transactions.
The organization’s victims were instructed to wire their money into funnel accounts held by conspirators in the United States, known as “money mules,” and the funds were then quickly moved to other accounts in the United States and around the world before the victims could discover the fraud. Bank records presented at trial demonstrated that from 2012 to 2015, several millions of dollars in wire transfers were funneled into Black Axe accounts to be laundered.
