A United States court has sentenced a Nigerian, Ifeanyi Emmanuel Ugwu, to one year in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that moved about five million dollars.
Ugwu, 50, of Bakersfield, California, was sentenced on Monday 5 October by Judge Jennifer Thurston in the Eastern District of California. He had pleaded guilty in April. The offence carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars. The court imposed a one year custodial term.
Between December 2020 and August 2023, Ugwu owned and operated Franklin Finance Inc and served as its chief executive. Through the company he opened and controlled about 20 bank accounts at nine banks and financial institutions. Those accounts received roughly five million dollars from more than 100 people in the United States. He then transferred the funds to recipients in China, Nigeria and other countries.
Franklin Finance Inc did not hold the licences required to operate a money transmitting business. Prosecutors said Ugwu marketed the service as money transfers at black market rates and misrepresented the nature of the business in order to open the accounts.
About 580,000 dollars of the money that passed through the accounts was the proceeds of fraud committed against victims in the United States. The operation attracted fraudsters and enabled the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from American citizens.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division and Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California.
By A.Ikechukwu
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