Two Nigerians, Chinagorom Onwumere and Stephen Anagor, have been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for their roles in a romance scam and wire fraud scheme that led to the death of an elderly American citizen.
Judge Clifton L. Corker of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville handed down the sentences to the pair and their associate, Salma Abdalkareem, a 29-year-old Sudanese national, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Mr Onwumere, 36, received a four-and-a-half-year prison term after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated stalking resulting in death, and aiding and abetting money laundering.
Mr Anagor, 37, was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aiding and abetting money laundering.
According to court filings, Messrs Anagor and Onwumere—both Nigerians—met during military training in South Carolina in June 2023.
“Anagor recruited Onwumere and Onwumere’s wife, Abdalkareem (a citizen of Sudan), to assist a relative in Nigeria in carrying out romance scams perpetrated on victims around the United States,” said the documents.
In the scheme orchestrated by Messrs Anagor and Onwumere, their relative in Nigeria posed as well-known celebrities to deceive victims—mostly older adults in the U.S.—into believing they were engaged in online romantic relationships with famous figures.
Once the fake relationships were established, the fraudsters exploited their victims, extracting large sums of money under various pretences.
“Members of the conspiracy would then engage in various devices to obtain money from the victims, such as the need for help with taxes on luxury vehicles, background investigation fees needed for employment, membership fees that would permit unique access to the celebrities, etc,” DoJ said.
It added, “On multiple occasions, victims were told that the scammers were with federal law enforcement and had to pay fees and fines to halt investigations initiated by the celebrities or their management.”
Messrs Onwumere and Anagor will also serve five years of supervised release after completing their prison terms and must pay $388,500 in restitution to their victims.
The duo now join a growing list of Nigerians implicated in high-profile fraud cases abroad.
