The Digest:
A United States court has sentenced Nigerian national Ehis Lawrence Akhimie to over eight years in prison for masterminding a transnational inheritance fraud that defrauded more than 400 elderly Americans of over $6 million. The scheme involved deceptive letters falsely promising multimillion-dollar inheritances from nonexistent relatives overseas.
Key Points:
- Akhimie, 41, received a 97-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges.
- He and his accomplices posed as Spanish bank officials, targeting vulnerable elderly victims.
- Victims were told to pay fake “fees” and “taxes” to access inheritances that never existed.
- Funds were laundered through a network of manipulated former victims in the U.S.
- U.S. authorities described the crime as a “betrayal of trust” that stole both “money and dignity.”
- Akhimie is the eighth defendant sentenced in this international fraud case.
- The operation involved collaboration with law enforcement agencies in the U.K., Spain, and Portugal.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice,
