Ejembi Onah, Wire Fraud & Money Laundering, New York 2024

Ejembi Onah, 60, of Ithaca, New York, was convicted of two counts of wire fraud and three counts of transacting in criminally derived property. Onah, a resident of Ithaca, submitted two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications to two different lenders in June 2020, receiving over $140,000 in loan proceeds.

According to the United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, the government’s evidence at trial established that Onah spent the loan proceeds on personal expenses, including paying back rent at his residence, leasing a luxury car, and funding his daily living expenses.

Onah’s crimes were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael D. Gadarian and Joshua R. Rosenthal.

Onah’s sentencing is scheduled for February 15, 2024. He faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each wire fraud count and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for each money laundering count, a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to three years, restitution to the victims, and a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

HSI and IRS-CI also discovered that Onah must forfeit to the United States over $140,000 in loan proceeds and an additional nearly $100,000 of those proceeds that he spent in three different transactions exceeding $10,000 each.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was enacted in March 2020, authorized the PPP loans to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering adverse economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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