A Nigerian man is in trouble in the United States over an inheritance fraud scheme.
Fifty-year-old Amos Prince Okey Ezemma was arrested at the Washington Dulles International Airport on December 7, 2023 before he was arraigned on December 20 in Miami.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating the case.
Ezemma and his co-defendants Ezennia Peter Neboh; Kennedy Ikponmwosa; Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham; 44; Emmanuel Samuel, 39; and Jerry Chucks Ozor, 43; all of London, were all arrested in April 2022 by authorities in Madrid and London.
Ezemma was on the run before his surrender and arrest.
“The arrest of the final defendant brings us one step closer to ensuring that those who conned elderly
Court documents allege that Ezemma operated an inheritance fraud scheme. Over the course of more than five years, he allegedly sent personalized letters to elderly people in the United States. The letters falsely claimed that the sender was a representative of a Spanish bank and that the recipient was entitled to receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance left for them by a family member who had died years before in Spain.
He reportedly also told his victims that they had to send money for delivery, taxes and other payments.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as mail fraud and wire fraud. He was arraigned December 19, 2023, before US Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Becerra of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Ezemma faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
His co-defendants have already been convicted and sentenced over the crime.
On Nov. 1, 2023, the Honorable Kathleen M. Williams sentenced Neboh, who was extradited from Spain, to 128 months in prison. On Oct. 20, she sentenced Ikponmwosa, who was also extradited from Spain, to 97 months in prison. Williams also sentenced Samuel, Ozor and Abraham to 82 months, 87 months and 90 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the scheme.
