Uwemedimo Umoren, Wire Fraud, New York 2023

In a major crackdown on international wire fraud, Uwemedimo Umoren, a 62-year-old man from Hoschton, Georgia, has been sentenced to three years in prison for his participation in a multimillion-dollar wire fraud conspiracy based in Nigeria.

According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, Umoren facilitated the laundering of proceeds from the Enterprise’s investment, business email compromise, and romance scams. Members of the Enterprise used electronic messages sent via email, text messaging, or online dating websites to gain the trust of victims, many of whom were vulnerable older men and women who lived alone, and caused them to transfer money to bank accounts controlled by members of the Enterprise.

The Enterprise, based in Nigeria, conducted a series of scams against individuals and businesses located across the U.S. from at least 2016 through 2021. Umoren received fraud proceeds from victims of the Enterprise in more than a dozen business bank accounts that he controlled in Georgia. The business bank accounts were opened in the names of companies formed by Umoren that were purportedly involved in, among other things, automobile sales and health care.

Umoren controlled at least 15 bank accounts held in the name of shell companies he controlled that received deposits totaling over approximately $8 million. At least 17 individual and corporate victims lost money as part of Umoren and his co-conspirators’ schemes. Many victims experienced severe emotional harm, including a now-deceased man whose stress from losing his life savings to the schemes contributed to his suffering a stroke.

In addition to the prison term, Umoren was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit a money judgment in the amount of $8,230,516.04 and was ordered to pay $1,246,072 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Secret Service and thanked the USSS Field Office in Atlanta, Georgia, for its assistance in the investigation of this case.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Juliana N. Murray is in charge of the prosecution.

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