District Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Fraud and Money Laundering

[TexasTowelie]

District Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Fraud and Money Laundering Schemes


WASHINGTON - Michael A. Orji, 40, formerly of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 10 years in prison on federal charges stemming from his role in at least seven bank fraud schemes, involving at least 10 victims and more than $5.7 million in intended losses.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, John P. Selleck, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Jay N. Lerner, Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Orji, a Nigerian national, pled guilty on Oct. 26, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced by the Honorable Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. Orji also was ordered to pay a restitution judgment in the amount of $905,274.98 divided among five victims with uncompensated losses. As part of his plea agreement, Orji additionally agreed to forfeit $75,254 in previously seized funds and pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $1,705,320.03. Following his prison term, he is required to surrender himself to ICE and cooperate with the deportation proceedings to Nigeria.

According to a statement of offense and related conduct acknowledged by Orji, he participated in an ongoing conspiracy from August 2015 through November 2017 to commit a variety of financial frauds, primarily involving stolen checks and business e-mail compromise (BEC) schemes. He then laundered the resulting proceeds through a network of fraudulent bank accounts, shell corporations, and co-conspirators in the District of Columbia and elsewhere. In a typical BEC scheme, a co-conspirator working online tricks a company or individual using “spoofed,” or fake, e-mails into transferring large sums of money into bank accounts controlled by those participating in the crime. Soon after the wire transfers are completed, the co-conspirators drain the bank accounts and launder the criminal proceeds.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/district-man-sentenced-10-years-prison-multi-million-dollar-fraud-and-money-laundering

[Grasswire2]

1. Ten years?

And some poor sucker who steals a pizza three times gets life? (Under 3 strikes laws)