Ikponmwosa Erhinmwinrose, a 39-year-old resident of Atlanta, Georgia, has been convicted by a federal jury in Denver on multiple charges including six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado stated that evidence presented at trial showed Erhinmwinrose and his associates stole over $7.6 million from various government benefit programs. These included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, several state unemployment insurance programs—including those in Colorado—and tax refunds. The programs were established as economic relief measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors explained that Erhinmwinrose and his co-conspirators used stolen identities from more than 1,000 victims to secure these funds. Many victims did not receive their IRS stimulus payments and received notifications about loans taken out in their names. Some also faced negative attention on social media due to fraudulent loans attributed to them but actually obtained by Erhinmwinrose's group.
To carry out these activities, Erhinmwinrose created numerous email accounts using false identities to impersonate individuals and businesses. He collaborated with others to submit fraudulent benefit applications and instructed a network of conspirators to move illicit funds through multiple bank accounts before converting them into cash or sending them overseas.
United States District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney presided over the trial proceedings.
The investigation was conducted by several agencies: the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, FDIC Office of Inspector General, Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
Assistant United States Attorneys Craig Fansler and Sonia Dave led the prosecution.
Anyone with information about attempted COVID-19-related fraud can report it via the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or through their online complaint form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
