Nigerian Extradited from South Africa Jailed in US over $4.1m Wire Fraud

James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian national, has been sentenced to a 90-month jail term in the United States over $4.1 million wire fraud and money laundering.

In a statement on Saturday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Aliyu was ordered to forfeit $1.2 million and return $2.4 million as restitution to victims.

The immigration agency said the Nigerian will be removed from the US after completing his jail term.

THE CASE

In July 2022, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), with assistance from members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), arrested Aliyu for defrauding dozens of US citizens.

Aliyu was arrested in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Nigerian national was said to have been part of a cybercrime ring involved in phishing, internet scams and money laundering.

After Aliyu was extradited to the US, he pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against him.

Eight other defendants, who were co-conspirators, also pleaded guilty in the District of Maryland in separate cases related to the same conspiracy.

Prosecutors had said Aliyu and his co-conspirators gained unauthorised access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses from February 2017 to July 2017.

The co-conspirators, who are US residents, were said to have sent “false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails — accounts associated with forged sender addresses — to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by the scheme’s perpetrators”.

The prosecutors said the Nigerian national was directly involved in at least $4,162,211 wire fraud.