U.S. Jails Nigerian Man for $1.4m COVID-19 Loan Fraud

A Nigerian national, Nosa Edokpaigbe, has been sentenced to five years in a U.S. federal prison after admitting to a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving COVID-19 relief funds.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado confirmed on Thursday that Edokpaigbe pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud and will face immediate deportation to Nigeria once he completes his 60-month sentence.

According to prosecutors, Edokpaigbe illegally secured over $1.3 million through fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications. Investigators say he created fake companies, used stolen personal information, opened bank accounts under false identities, and submitted fabricated documents to obtain the funds.

He was also accused of filing hundreds of bogus tax returns using the identities of real individuals. To hide his tracks, officials said he relied on a wireless hotspot to mask his online activities and deployed AI-generated images and even mannequin photos to bypass lenders’ identity verification systems.

Edokpaigbe has been ordered to repay $1,408,897.16 in restitution and forfeit an additional $681,694, representing proceeds from the scheme.

U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly criticized the conduct as a deliberate exploitation of emergency programmes meant to support struggling Americans during the pandemic.

Edokpaigbe was arrested in October 2023 after law enforcement seized the hotspot used to facilitate the fraud. Authorities say he has now joined the growing list of Nigerians convicted abroad for sophisticated financial crimes.