Monday, March 10, 2025 - A Nigerian lawyer, Okechukwu Josiah Odunna, made his initial appearance in a federal court in Miami, Florida where he is accused of playing a key role in a fraud scheme in which he fraudulently obtained loans in connection with the fraudulent purchases of approximately 20 residential properties in Florida.
The Justice Department in a press statement announced on Friday, March
7, 2025, said the plot resulted in the loss of about $8 million to U.S.
financial institutions.
Odunna, 60, a resident of Abuja, faces charges of wire fraud and
conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution.
Odunna was arrested on Sept. 24, 2024, by Nigerian authorities pursuant
to a U.S. extradition request.
Nigerian authorities extradited Odunna to the Southern District of
Florida on March 6, after he waived extradition.
He has remained incarcerated since his arrest. Odunna is scheduled to
appear at his pretrial detention and arraignment hearings on March 11 before
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman.
According to the indictment, between December 2005 and
approximately May 2008, Odunna and his co-conspirators devised a scheme to
defraud and to obtain money by making false representations and material
omissions to U.S. banking institutions.
As part of the scheme, Odunna and his co-conspirators would, among
other things: submit false and fraudulent loan applications and documents to
financial institutions relating to purchases of residential properties,
resulting in lenders loaning out more money than they otherwise would.
These false statements to the lenders included false names of the
persons who would be borrowing the money to purchase the properties, falsely
inflated sale prices that were much higher than the true prices and false
details regarding the receipt and disbursement of funds in connection with the
purchases of the properties.
Odunna, who was a licensed attorney at the time, was also one of the
directors of Direct Title and Escrow Services, Inc. (DTES).
Odunna was the settlement agent in approximately 20 fraudulent closings
of property purchases.
To disguise the fraud, Odunna and his co-conspirators provided sellers
and lenders with two different settlement statements, which included false
information and omitted information regarding the sale price, the identity of
the purchaser, and the receipt and the disbursement of funds.
Odunna’s co-conspirators, charged in the same indictment, included Karl
Oreste, Marie Lucie Tondreau and Kelly Augustin. Oreste pleaded guilty and
was sentenced to 100 months in prison.
Tondreau, who was the former Mayor of North Miami, was convicted at
trial. She was sentenced to 65 months in prison. Augustin remains a fugitive.
If convicted, Odunna faces up to 30 years in prison on the conspiracy to
commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution charge and up to 30 years
in prison on the wire fraud affecting a financial institution charge.
Each count also carries the possibility of a fine and supervised release
upon completion of any prison sentence. A federal district court judge will
determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and
other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of
Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI Miami
Field Office, and Commissioner Russell C. Weigel, III, of the Florida Office of
Financial Regulation (OFR), made the announcement.
The FBI Miami and OFR are investigating the case. The Justice
Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in
securing the arrest and extradition of Odunna.
The United States also thanks the FBI International Operations Division,
Africa Unit Legal Attaché Office, Abuja, Nigeria, Ministry of Justice, Central
Authority Unit, Nigeria, and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria
for their valuable assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ana Maria Martinez is prosecuting the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daren Grove is handling asset forfeiture.
Odunna was a Deputy Director, Legal at the National Lottery Regulatory
Commission in Abuja, for 6 years.
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