James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian citizen, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the United States for his role in a $4.1 million wire fraud and money laundering scheme.
According to a statement by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, Aliyu was also ordered to forfeit $1.2 million and pay $2.4 million in restitution to his victims.
The agency noted that Aliyu will be deported to Nigeria after serving his prison term.
Aliyu’s criminal activities came to light in July 2022 when he was arrested in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, through a joint operation by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
He was alleged to be part of a cybercrime ring that engaged in phishing, internet scams, and money laundering targeting US citizens.
Following his extradition to the US, Aliyu pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Eight other co-conspirators, all US residents, also admitted guilt in separate cases in the District of Maryland linked to the same scheme.
Prosecutors revealed that from February to July 2017, Aliyu and his co-conspirators gained unauthorised access to email accounts belonging to individuals and businesses.
Using “spoofed” emails with forged sender addresses, they sent false wiring instructions to trick victims into transferring funds to bank accounts controlled by the perpetrators.
Aliyu was directly implicated in at least $4,162,211 in wire fraud, prosecutors said, underscoring the scale of the operation.
