Nader Elnegery, 41, of Norfolk, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for mail and wire fraud charges

A Norfolk man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for mail and wire fraud charges after he was found guilty of defrauding Canon, U.S.A. and other companies of professional cameras and lenses. Nader Elnegery, 41, was also ordered to pay $54,639 in restitution to the victims of his offense and to forfeit $38,000 recovered from his home.

Elnegery pleaded guilty on Jan. 13, just minutes before his trial was to begin. According to court documents, Elnegery admitted to falsely certifying his eligibility for membership in a program offered by Canon to professional photographers and filmmakers.

Specifically, in 2013 and 2014, Elnegery applied for memberships in his own name and in the names of five aliases, falsely claiming to own several items of professional camera equipment that he had rented from a second company, ATS Rentals.

Ownership of such equipment is the primary condition of membership in the Canon program. Elnegery then used the Canon memberships to obtain evaluation loans of high-end, professional cameras and lenses from Canon.

Elnegery failed to return these items, as well as several items he had rented from ATS Rentals, resulting in significant losses to both companies. In March and April 2014, Elnegery sold the majority of these items in eBay auctions, collecting the proceeds from these sales through a PayPal account.

Elnegery transferred the majority of the money he earned from these sales to his own checking account. The items not sold were recovered from Elnegery’s home.

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis presided over the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin C. Gratton and Brian J. Samuels prosecuted the case, with the help of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

At the sentencing hearing, Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, stated that Elnegery’s actions were a clear abuse of the trust placed in him by Canon and ATS Rentals.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

For more information on this case, visit the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia or the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.