Two California men were sentenced Nov. 15 to up to 11 years in federal prison for participating in an international multimillion-dollar scheme involving Nigerian nationals.
George Ugochukwu Egwumba, 47, of Cypress, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner to 132 months and Princewell Arinze Duru, 33, of Sacramento, to 81 months.
In June, Egwumba was found guilty of aggravated identity theft, and Duru guilty of wire fraud and aiding and abetting of aggravated identity theft.
Participants of the scheme, including Egwumba and Duru, orchestrated business email, malware, and elder fraud, as well as romance scams, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Members of the scheme in Nigeria connected with participants in the United States through middlemen—who assisted in receiving and laundering money through U.S. bank accounts, money transmitting services such as Western Union or MoneyGram, or cryptocurrency, according to prosecutors….