The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested Ebuka Iwuagwu, a Nigerian based in Atlanta, for allegedly swindling the U.S. government of COVID-19 funds and other victims in a coordinated romance scam worth hundreds of millions of naira, according to court filings seen by Peoples Gazette.
Mr Iwuagwu, 39, was indicted on April 2 at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division in Judge Calabrese’s courtroom.
His indictment on eight counts of money laundering and money laundering conspiracy paved the way for his arrest on Monday after FBI agents linked him to four separate complaints from victims of romance fraud that occurred between March and May 2020.
The first victim, a resident of Strongsville in Ohio, wired $37,500 to Mr Iwuagwu, while the second victim, who was living in California, transferred $20,800 to an account titled Woodslayer Companies LLC, which had the Nigerian man as the sole signatory.
Victims 3 and 4 sent $21,565 and $65,500 to a Trice checking account registered under a fictitious name which FBI agents believed to be Mr Iwuagwu, another offence that complicateshis case.
The accused was said to have conspired with other persons to execute the scams while avoiding detection from the U.S. security agencies.
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged in 2020, Mr Iwuagwu created fake staff identities from his fake company to receive about $52,000 in relief funds from the Washington Security Employment Department, violating Title 18 of the U.S. Code.
“The conspirators, through a Pandemic Unemployment Fraud scheme, caused the Washington Security Employment Department,to transfer approximately $51,948 in unemployment benefits intended for persons other than defendant,” a copy of Mr Iwuagwu’s indictment sheet stated.
The FBI found that Mr Iwuagwu withdrew and transferred the relief funds to his co-conspirators in a way that obfuscated the money’s connection to wire fraud.
Between April 3, 2020 and April 8, 2020, Mr Iwuagwu made a series of transactions totalling $18,000 from funds intended for unemployed people to his own personal account.
Mr Iwuagwu had been previously arrested in January 2024 by the local police. However, allegations of defrauding the U.S. government have made him a person of interest to the FBI, whose agents are keen on recovering the stolen funds.
Records seen by The Gazette showed his wife filed to end marriage with him in early 2022, and a judge granted a dissolution order in August 2022.
It was unclear whether or not his criminal lifestyle contributed to the fate of his marriage.
Mr Iwuagwu is the latest name on the list of Nigerian offenders on trial for wire fraud.
Last week, The media reported that Mercy Ojedeji, a 24-year-old former PhD student at the University of Missouri, was arrested by the FBI for forging his academic transcripts and committing wire fraud.
The U.S. Secret Service seized and sought a forfeiture in rem of $1.5 million from the Binance wallet of Nigerian serial fraudster, Avwerosuo Omokri, after numerous complaints from victims triggered a detailed investigation into the suspect’s activities and bank records.
In a similar case, a top Yoruba monarch, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, who mysteriously went missing in March 2024, was discovered in FBI custody, facing allegations of defrauding the U.S. government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
The media in December 2024 reported that suspected serial fraudster Omobolanle Bombata, aka Bobo Chicago, was fighting to stay out of jail after allegedly hacking into the emails of several companies to steal millions of dollars.
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