A Georgia man was sentenced to 25 years in jail after being found guilty of laundering millions of dollars obtained through online fraud, which included taking advantage of vulnerable people on dating websites.
Elvis Eghosa Ogiekpolor was found guilty earlier this year on 15 counts of actual Money Laundering as well as one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.
At his federal prosecution, thirteen victims of romance fraud gave testimony. One of them said that she had been persuaded to send about $70,000 to a con artist she had met on eHarmony.
“Ogiekpolor and his co-conspirators were part of a broader international network of internet fraudsters and money launderers who wreaked havoc and destruction on innocent persons and businesses,” claims Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
According to a statement from Buchanan’s office, Ogiekpolor instructed “money mules” to open at least 50 fictitious corporate bank accounts that received more than $9.5 million from various internet scams between October 2018 and August 2020.
According to the statement, Ogiekpolor subsequently used other accounts, including dozens located abroad, to launder the money.
Some of the money came from romance scams; con artists made phoney online dating profiles and preyed on helpless people with large amounts of money, including retired widows or widowers.
In spite of never meeting the guys in person, numerous victims, mostly women, stated that they had met strangers online and had become convinced over the course of months that they were in romantic relationships.
The con artists frequently said they wanted to establish a life with their victims, but that couldn’t happen until a problem was fixed that cost a lot of money.
Ogiekpolor, 46, was given a sentence of 25 years in prison and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge William Ray II in Atlanta.
Ogiekpolor’s hearing to decide how much restitution she must pay will be arranged at a later time.
