A NIGERIAN man, Chidozie Collins Obasi, is wanted by the US authorities for allegedly defrauding the State of New York of more than $30 million.
According to United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero of the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the 29-year-old Obasi is charged with ‘one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, and 16 counts of wire fraud, all stemming from a complicated, evolving fraud scheme that initially targeted Americans through a spam email campaign offering illegitimate “work from home” jobs.’
Also, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Obasi is alleged to have shifted to targeting US hospitals and medical systems by offering non-existent ventilators for sale beginning in March 2020 and finally shifted again in June 2020 to using stolen identity information of American citizens to apply for and obtain Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EID Loans).
In a statement issued on September 9, Romero said, ‘The Indictment alleges that Obasi perpetrated this fraud from Nigeria, with the help of co-conspirators in Canada and elsewhere. The defendant and his co-conspirators are alleged to have obtained more than $31,000,000 through this multi-faceted fraud scheme, with the overwhelming majority of that money – more than $30 million – coming from the State of New York for the intended purchase of ventilators.’
The Indictment alleged that the scheme began in September 2018, with a spam email campaign that offered fake ‘work from home’ jobs.
‘When a person responded to the phony job offer, Obasi or a co-conspirator posed as a representative of a legitimate company, often a supposed medical equipment supplier based outside the United States, and offered the person a job as the company’s US representative with responsibilities including collecting on outstanding invoices. A co-conspirator in Canada then sent the new ‘employee’ counterfeit checks purportedly from customers of the company, and the new “employee” deposited the checks, took a commission, and wired the rest of the money to a foreign bank account ostensibly owned by the fake company. As alleged in the Indictment, Obasi and his co-conspirators obtained more than $1 million in this manner,’ the Indictment alleges.
The Indictment further alleges that around March 2020, soon after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States and ventilators were in high demand, Obasi posed as a representative of an Indonesian-based medical supply company offering ventilators for sale, and claimed to have a large stockpile of ventilators manufactured by a German company whose headquarters was in Telford, PA. The defendant allegedly convinced a medical equipment broker in the US to broker sales of these non-existent ventilators, and ultimately deceived the State of New York into wiring more than $30 million for the purchase of ventilators that did not exist. Obasi continued to target other potential customers with this same scam, including hospitals.
Later, in approximately June 2020, the Indictment alleges that Obasi and his co-conspirators took advantage of the EID Loan programme by using stolen identities of US citizens to apply for and obtain more than $135,000 in EID Loan proceeds.
‘Obasi is presently a fugitive, and the United States is seeking to locate and arrest him. Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts should contact their local FBI Office,’ Romero said.
If caught and convicted, Obasi faces a maximum sentence of 621 years in prison, a five-year period of supervised release, and a $5,750,000 fine. Obasi also will be required to make full restitution of the more than $31,000,000 that he obtained by fraud.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. Lowe, the statement added.
