A Nigerian national residing in France, Newton Ofioritse Jemide, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison by a U.S. court for his role in a multi-million dollar disaster relief fraud scheme.
Jemide, 47, was extradited from France and sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Deborah K. Chasanow of the U.S. District Court. His sentencing followed a guilty plea related to a fraud case involving the misuse of federal disaster funds.
Earlier in March, Jemide had been brought to the U.S. to face charges over the illegal acquisition of federal assistance intended for American citizens affected by natural disasters.
According to the U.S Department of Justice (DoJ), Jemide and his co-conspirators, operating from Nigeria and within the United States, used stolen identities to open Green Dot accounts.
The accounts were then used to fraudulently apply for financial assistance meant for victims of wildfires between 2016 and 2017.
The scheme involved U.S.-based associates purchasing hundreds of Green Dot debit cards, which were later registered using the personal information of identity theft victims.
Once federal agencies like FEMA deposited the benefits onto the cards, Jemide and others coordinated with accomplices to withdraw the funds, offering them a percentage in return.
To cover their tracks, the group employed various tactics including using intermediaries for cash withdrawals, spreading transactions across different locations, and issuing money orders to unrelated individuals or businesses.
The DoJ stated that the fraudulent claims, each valued at $500, led to at least $8 million in benefits being deposited across the manipulated debit cards.
In addition to his prison sentence, Jemide was handed three years of supervised release.
He was also ordered to pay $520,431 in restitution and forfeit $311,036 to the U.S. government as part of the judgment.
“Newton Ofioritse Jemide, a Nigerian national extradited from France, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain federal benefits,” the DoJ confirmed in a statement posted on its official website.
