Obinwanne Okeke is a celebrated Nigerian entrepreneur and billionaire has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment by the US federal court.
A publication by CNN has revealed that, the Nigerian national was convicted for masterminding an $11 million cyber fraud on a British company.
The court heard that “through subterfuge and impersonation, Obinwanne Okeke, engaged in a multi-year global business email and computer hacking scheme that caused a staggering $11 million in losses to his victims,” Raj Parekh, Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday after the sentencing.
The statement continued;
“In April 2018, a Unatrac executive fell prey to a phishing email that allowed conspirators to capture login credentials,” according to the statement.
“The conspirators sent fraudulent wire transfer requests and attached fake invoices. Okeke participated in the effort to victimize Unatrac through fraudulent wire transfers totaling nearly $11 million, which was transferred overseas.”
The justice department further revealed that, British company Unatrac Holding Limited — the export sales office for industrial machinery company Caterpillar — were the victims of an online heist perpetrated by Okeke and his team, who had obtained their login details through phishing emails.
In 2020, Forbes named Obinwanne Okeke as a promising entrepreneur under its ’30 under 30 list’.
