A Nigerian national, James Junior Aliyu, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the United States for his part in a broad wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Aliyu, who was apprehended and subsequently extradited from South Africa to the U.S., is the final defendant among three to confess guilt for his role in a business email compromise (BEC) operation.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) publicized the sentencing on Saturday, March 21, 2026.
In addition to his prison term, the court has mandated that Aliyu forfeit $1.2 million and provide $2.4 million in restitution to those who suffered losses due to the fraudulent activities.
ICE also indicated that Aliyu is slated for deportation from the United States once his sentence is completed.
"James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian national, will serve a 90-month sentence for his role in a wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy after planning to hack business email servers," the statement from ICE detailed.
"Aliyu was extradited from South Africa to face justice."
"He was hit with a $1.2 million forfeiture order and a $2.4 million restitution order and will be removed from the United States when he completes his sentence."
"ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents in Maryland and South Africa offices were proud to be part of the international team that investigated this case."
It was previously reported that Aliyu, who was residing in South Africa during his illicit activities, admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Eight other defendants had previously pleaded guilty in the District of Maryland in separate cases connected to the same conspiracy.
On June 24, 2019, a federal grand jury issued an indictment, accusing Aliyu, Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo (30), and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu (31) of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
All three are Nigerian citizens who were living in South Africa at the time the offenses occurred.
Federal authorities unsealed the indictment on July 6, 2022, following the defendants' arrests outside the U.S.
All three were extradited to the United States from abroad to face their federal charges.
According to his plea agreement, Aliyu conspired with others to execute a BEC scheme between February 2017 and at least July 2017.
Specifically, Aliyu and his associates, including those based in Maryland, gained unauthorized access to email accounts belonging to targeted individuals and businesses.
These associates then sent fraudulent wiring instructions using "spoofed" emails – which featured forged sender addresses – to mislead victims into transferring funds to bank accounts under the control of the scheme's operators, referred to as "drop accounts."
Furthermore, within the same period, Aliyu and his co-conspirators planned to engage in money laundering.
They schemed to disperse the illegally obtained funds by moving them into drop accounts and other accounts through transfers, cash withdrawals, obtaining cashier's checks, and issuing checks to various individuals and entities, all designed to conceal the true ownership and origin of the funds.
As outlined in the plea agreement, the intended financial loss for transactions directly involving Aliyu amounted to at least $4,162,211.65.
The actual financial loss resulting from these transactions was at least $1,570,475.
Aliyu directly controlled at least $1,194,565 of the funds acquired from the victims.
Based on the plea agreement, Aliyu is obligated to pay a money judgment of no less than $1,194,565, and provide restitution covering the full amount of the victims' losses, which the parties agree is at least $2,389,130.
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to comment.
Be the first to comment on this article!