A 40-year-old Nigerian, Leslie Mba, has been jailed for 19 years in a United States federal prison for his role in a $4m romance scam and business email compromise scheme.
Mba, who is not a U.S. citizen, is also expected to face deportation proceedings upon completion of his prison term.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge David Hittner, who ordered Mba to serve 228 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to make false statements in immigration documents.
The conviction was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
According to prosecutors, between April 2018 and December 2023, Mba and his accomplices operated a transnational fraud scheme that targeted individuals and businesses through romance scams and compromised business email accounts.
Investigators said members of the syndicate initially gained unauthorised access to business email accounts overseas and diverted legitimate payments into bank accounts under their control in the United States.
“Victims believed they were sending money to legitimate businesses, but Mba and others instead funnelled the funds to accounts they controlled,” the statement noted.