United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy | U.S. Department of Justice
A Nigerian man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his involvement in schemes related to money laundering and passport fraud. Chukwunonso Obiora, 37, was sentenced by United States District Judge Indira Talwani. In addition to the prison term, he will face three years of supervised release and must pay $3,326,014.14 in restitution and forfeiture.
Obiora had pleaded guilty in June 2024 to charges of passport fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. He was initially arrested in October 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia, and subsequently indicted in January 2024.
The fraudulent activities took place between March 2021 and May 2023. Obiora, along with several co-conspirators, orchestrated business email compromises (BECs) to defraud companies into sending funds to accounts they controlled. BECs involve impersonating trusted parties via email to mislead businesses into making payments to fraudulent accounts.
Obiora admitted his role as a leader and organizer within the money laundering scheme. The operation involved creating fake identities and bank accounts under victims' names, facilitating the transfer of illicit funds quickly before detection by victim companies. These proceeds were then distributed among co-conspirators or wired internationally.
To conceal their activities, the conspirators forged business documents and provided false information about the nature of transactions. They managed at least $6.5 million through these fraudulent activities over two years.
In a separate scheme following his removal from the U.S., Obiora conspired with an American relative to illegally obtain a U.S. passport using false identity claims. This allowed him to re-enter the country from Nigeria under his relative's name.
The announcement of Obiora's sentencing was made by United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England. The case received support from the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service's Criminal Investigations Division and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto.
