Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, 41, of Nigeria was a member of a group of fraudsters that targeted elderly victims in the United States. He has admitted to operating a transnational inheritance fraud scheme that defrauded elderly and vulnerable consumers across the U.S.
Ehis Lawrence Akhimie
Over the course of several years, Akhimie and his fellow fraudsters sent personalized letters to people based in the U.S. Through the letters, the perpetrators pretended to be a representative of a bank in Spain and falsely claimed that their victims were entitled to receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance left for them by a family member who had died in another country years ago.
To avoid questioning from government authorities, however, the victims had to send money for taxes, delivery fees and other payments, the fraudsters claimed. The victims sent money to Akhimie and his co-conspirators through a complex web of other victims.
Among the co-conspirators are Ezennia Peter Neboh, Kennedy Ikponmwosa, Emmanuel Samuel, Jerry Chucks Ozor, Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham and Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata. They have been convicted and sentenced in connection with the international fraud scheme.
On October 20, 2023, Ikponmwosa was sentenced to 97 months of imprisonment and on November 1, 2023, Neboh was sentenced to 128 months of imprisonment. They were both extradited from Spain.
Samuel, Ozor and Abraham were extradited from the United Kingdom and received prison sentences of 82 months, 87 months and 90 months, respectively. Ezemma was paroled from Nigeria into the U.S. and sentenced to 90 months imprisonment in July 2024 while Ogbata was extradited from Portugal and sentenced to 97 months of incarceration on April 25, 2025.
In March 2025, Akhimie was extradited from the U.K. to face charges in Florida, USA. On June 17, 2025, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Akhimie admitted to defrauding more than $6 million from more than 400 elderly or vulnerable victims. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.
CONAN Daily 