A Nigerian, Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, 34, was sentenced today to five years and three months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution for his involvement in a sophisticated computer hacking and business email compromise (BEC) scheme that caused over $5 million in losses to multiple victims in the United States and other countries.
Okwonna had previously pled guilty on May 20 to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his role in the scheme.
Okwonna’s co-defendant, Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, also a Nigerian, received a more severe sentence of 10 years in prison on August 27.
Umeti was also ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution. Umeti was convicted by a federal jury on June 13 of multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer.
The court documents and evidence presented during Umeti’s trial revealed the extent of the fraudulent activities conducted by the two men and their co-conspirators.
Between February 2016 and July 2021, the group orchestrated a scheme that involved sending phishing emails to victim businesses.
The emails were crafted to appear as though they came from legitimate sources, such as banks or vendors, and typically included attachments.
Once the recipient opened the attachments, their computers were infected with malicious software, or “malware,” which allowed the conspirators to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s computer systems and email accounts.
Exploiting this access, the defendants were able to obtain sensitive information and use it to deceive employees at the victim companies into executing unauthorized wire transfers. The funds were then sent to accounts controlled by the conspirators.
In total, the scheme caused or attempted to cause over $5 million in losses to the victim companies.
The investigation was led by the FBI Washington Field Office, with the case being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Withers from the Eastern District of Virginia and Senior Counsel Thomas S. Dougherty of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).
Additional support came from CCIPS Senior Counsel Aarash Haghighat, who assisted in the investigation and indictment.
