Newton Ofioritse Jemide, a Nigerian living in France, was extradited to the US for his role in a $8 million disaster scam and was given a term of three years and five months in prison.
Judge Deborah K. Chasanow of a US District Court condemned Jemide on Tuesday.
Remember that PUNCH Jemide, 47, was extradited from France after being found guilty of unlawfully collecting federal funding intended for needy US citizens, according to a March 6 Metro story.
In order to create Green Dot accounts, which were used to apply for federal benefits intended for wildfire victims between 2016 and 2017, Jemide and a few of his cohorts stole the identities of US residents, according to the US Department of Justice.
The US DoJ stated that the convict and others from Nigeria directed co-conspirators living in the US to purchase hundreds of Green Dot debit cards.
It added, “Co-conspirators living in Nigeria then registered the cards with Green Dot using stolen personal information from identity theft victims around the United States.
“As a result of fraudulent submissions, FEMA and the other federal agencies deposited benefits onto the Green Dot debit cards.
“Jemide and select co-conspirators informed other co-conspirators when the fraudulent funds became available on the debit cards and gave them information to cash out the funds from the cards in exchange for a commission.”
It noted that Jemide and his co-conspirators took steps to conceal their identities by using others to make purchases and withdrawals, utilising multiple store and bank locations for withdrawals, and making money orders payable to other individuals and/or corporate entities.
