Nigerian information technology worker, Chukwuemeka Onyegbula, has been indicted on wire fraud and identity theft charges by a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington.
Acting US attorney for the western district of Washington, Tessa Gorman announced the indictment in a statement by the department of justice.
Investigation revealed that Onyegbula works as an IT engineer with Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited.
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He was arrested on June 3 and is said to be currently detained in Nigeria. It is not yet clear if he will be extradited to the United States for trial.
Authorities said Onyegbula with his co-conspirators was linked to at least 253 fraudulent filings for unemployment benefits in 27 states, AP reports.
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The indictment and criminal complaint on June 6, 2021 revealed that Onyegbula under the alias ‘Phillip Carter’ filed for fraudulent unemployment insurance in 27 American states, earning nearly $290,000 (N119 million) in the process.
The states include Washington, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Nevada, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin.
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Authorities also stated that federal Small Business Administration paid out $54,000 (N22 million) in COVID-19 economic disaster claims filed by Onyegbula and his co-conspirators.
Washington state was severely victimised by fraudulent claims for pandemic-related benefits. It likely paid out more than $647 million in such fraudulent claims, though $370 million was recovered, according to state officials.
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Gorman in her statement stated;
Onyegbula allegedly used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.
By using this practice, Onyegbula made it appear that each claim was connected to a different email account. The email account used for fraud was linked to Onyegbula through various electronic evidences such as phone numbers and IP addresses.
The email account contained information such as a visa application receipt, banking information and homework assignments by Onyegbula’s son. The cyber evidence also includes dozens of tax return information for U.S. citizens.
It added;
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison when the offense relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year sentence to run consecutive to any sentence imposed on the other counts of conviction.
This case is being investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). The Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division provided substantial assistance. The Washington Employment Security Department is cooperating in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorneys, Cindy Chang and Seth Wilkinson.
Federal Bureau of Information, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, is also investigating the case.
