Clement Onuama, a Nigerian man was on Tuesday sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for taking part in years-long schemes that defrauded unwitting people from the U.S. and other countries of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He owned a legitimate auto sales and repair business near Arlington, Texas, which prosecutors said became a front for an operation that laundered money gained through a systemic and long-term fleecing of gullible persons.
Onuama, from Lagos, was also ordered to pay $409,639 in restitution. In addition, the court ordered Onuama to forfeit as a personal money judgment, $409,639 in ill-gotten gains. His co-conspirator, Orefo Okeke, was sentenced by Judge Conley on October 18, 2018, to 45 months imprisonment, and ordered to pay $582,955.90 in restitution to the victims.
On July 17, 2018, Onuama pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Okeke and Onuama participated in multiple frauds by means of wires, including: romance frauds, business email compromises, identity theft, bank account takeovers, and credit card fraud. Onuama was found responsible for causing a fraud loss of $1,076,602.
