Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - A Nigerian national, Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, has been sentenced to 97 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme in the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of
Florida announced this in a statement issued by the Department of Justice on
Monday, September 15, 2025.
Akhimie, 41, who was extradited from the United
Kingdom to the US, was sentenced on September 11, 2025, according to the
statement.
With the latest sentencing, eight Nigerians involved in the
fraud scheme have been sentenced.
According to court documents, Akhimie was a member of a
group of fraudsters that sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the
United States over the course of several years.
The letters falsely claimed that the sender was a
representative of a bank in Spain and that the recipient was entitled to
receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance left for the recipient by a family
member who had died overseas years before.
Akhimie and his co-conspirators told a series of lies to
victims, including that, before they could receive their purported inheritance,
they were required to send money for delivery fees, taxes, and other payments
to avoid questioning from government authorities.
Akhimie and his co-conspirators collected money victims sent
in response to the fraudulent letters through a complex web of U.S.-based
former victims, whom the defendants convinced to receive money and forward to
the defendants or persons associated with them. Victims who sent money never
received any purported inheritance funds.
In pleading guilty, Akhimie admitted to defrauding over $6
million from more than 400 victims, many of whom were elderly or otherwise
vulnerable.
“Schemes like this steal not only money but dignity from our
seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District
of Florida (SDFL). “Our Office stands with victims, ensures their voices are
heard, and will relentlessly pursue those who prey on them.”
“The Justice Department will continue to pursue, prosecute,
and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S.
consumers, wherever they are located,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A.
Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This case is a testament
to the critical role of international collaboration in tackling transnational
crime. I want to thank our U.S. law enforcement partners, as well as those who
assisted across the globe, including the National Crime Agency and Crown
Prosecution Service of the United Kingdom, for their outstanding contributions
to this case.”
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to
protecting American consumers from being defrauded by Transnational Criminal
Organizations,” said Acting Postal Inspector in Charge Bladismir Rojo for the
U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Miami Division. “We have long
partnered with the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch to
deliver justice and we will continue to do so.”
“Defrauding the elderly and other vulnerable populations is
a betrayal of not just trust but of humanity,” said Acting Special Agent in
Charge Ray Rede for HSI Arizona. “HSI and our law enforcement partners
commitment to investigate criminals who steal money sends a clear message:
justice will prevail, and those who exploit others for personal gain will be
held accountable. We thank all our partners who assisted in this
investigation.”
“Akhimie is the eighth defendant sentenced to prison in
connection with the scheme. District Court Judge Kathleen M. Williams
previously sentenced six additional defendants in a related case,” the
statement read.
On April 25, District Court Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced
Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, who was extradited from Portugal, to 97 months in
prison for his role in the scheme, describing the defendant’s offense
conduct as “an incredibly serious crime” and stating that it merited a
substantial sentence because it was important “to stand up for the most
vulnerable, for the least protected members of our society who have done
absolutely nothing wrong.”
USPIS and HSI investigated the case. The Justice
Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the Southern District of Florida, Europol, and authorities from the UK, Spain,
and Portugal all provided critical assistance.
Senior Trial Attorney and Transnational Criminal Litigation
Coordinator Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorneys Josh Rothman of the Civil
Division’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.
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