#U.S. DECEMBER 14, 2017 / 5:47 PM / UPDATED 30 MINUTES AGO

Nigerian man gets 41 months in U.S. for taking part in global email scams

Brendan Pierson
3 MIN READ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Nigerian man was sentenced to three years and five months in prison by a U.S. judge on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to taking part in email scams to defraud thousands of victims around the world of millions of dollars, U.S. prosecutors said.

David Chukwuneke Adindu, 30, was sentenced U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan, according to an announcement from Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that Adindu tricked victims into wiring more than $25 million into bank accounts he opened in China, where they said the funds would be difficult for victims in the United States to recover.

Adindu’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Adindu defrauded his victims by impersonating executives or vendors of companies, prosecutors said, directing employees of those companies to make large wire transfers. Such scams are known as “business email compromise.”

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