Rita Odafe
An indictment, comprising 16 criminal charges, has been lodged by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) against Kingsley Inegbedion and Efemena Igbe for alleged money laundering and internet fraud totaling $1.5 million.
The FBI documented that Inegbedion and Igbe engaged in scams including romance scams and business email compromise, a practice where they posed as legitimate businesses to deceive unsuspecting American citizens from April 2020 to May 2023.
Inegbedion, formerly known to law enforcement, operated as a network engineer in Atlanta, providing training programs for aspiring tech professionals.
The fraudulent activities involved using fake corporate entities with no physical presence or income to receive wired money from victims. The money was then swiftly transferred to various accounts within and outside the U.S. to obscure the illicit transactions.
Transactions included withdrawals of $50,120 and $60,000 from Camtech’s Navy Federal accounts and the purchase of a $160,000 cashier’s cheque from Kingtech’s Truist account, among other deceptive actions.
In some instances, Inegbedion and Igbe collaborated with unknown accomplices who instructed victims to deposit money into the fraudulent accounts through emails and other communication channels.
While Igbe has absconded to Nigeria after being summoned by security officials, Inegbedion remains to respond to the allegations brought forth by the FBI.
The FBI aims to reclaim the defrauded funds and seize any assets acquired through the fraudulent scheme for the benefit of the U.S. government.
“If found guilty of the offenses detailed in counts one through sixteen of this indictment, the defendants, Efemena Igbe and Kingsley Inegbedion, must surrender to the United States of America any property, whether real or personal, linked to such offenses, along with any proceeds from such property, which includes, but is not limited to, a monetary judgment equivalent to the value of the property involved in the offense,” according to the FBI statement.
