BOSTON (AP) — A federal jury has convicted two people of playing a role in what prosecutors called “expansive online fraud schemes” that included romance scams and coronavirus pandemic unemployment assistance fraud.
Osakpamwan Henry Omoruyi, 37, and Osaretin Godspower Omoruyi, 36, were convicted in U.S. District Court this week after an eight-day trial of bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The men, Nigerian citizens who lived in the Boston suburb of Canton, opened multiple bank accounts in the names of fake people using fraudulent foreign passports, prosecutors said. Their accomplices then sent the proceeds from romance scams, pandemic relief fraud and other illegal online schemes to those bank accounts, authorities said.
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The defendants took in more than $1.7 million in fraudulently obtained money from 2019 until 2021 and transferred most of it overseas, prosecutors said.
Both men are being held pending sentencing scheduled for Sept. 22. The charges of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. The charge of money laundering conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
