Obinwanne Okeke to restitute $10.7million, forfeits wedding ring, cars to US government

Obinwanne Okeke has been ordered to restitute about $10.7million which he fraudulently obtained from identified victims of his at least five years of wire fraud in the U.S and other places, Premium Times reports.

A judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, Rebecca Smith, while sentencing him to 10 years in jail on February 16, also ordered the forfeiture of his identified assets to the U.S government.

The assets include his “white gold emerald cut engagement ring with small accent diamonds.”

The other forfeited assets are two cars back home in Nigeria, and N280,555,010 translating into about $700,000 which the Nigerian government had seized from him.

The fraud –

U.S authorities said Mr Okeke and his co-conspirators, who remain at large, “through subterfuge and impersonation,“ engaged in a multi-year global business email and computer hacking scheme that caused a staggering $11 million in losses to his victims.”

Mr Okeke, 31, also known as Invictus Obi, had in June last year pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

His guilty plea which helped him to have one of the two counts initially filed against him dropped, conceded to making a restitution and forfeiture of his seized assets.

Sentencing –

Premium Times on Thursday exclusively obtained court’s ‘Restitution Order’ and ‘Consent Order of Forfeiture’ which are part of the sentencing documents signed by the judge and the parties to the case.

Apart from the judge, others who signed the two documents are, the Acting United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Raj Parekh, Mr Okeke, and his defence lawyer, John Iweanoge.

– Premium Times