It was a typical case of many days for the thief and one day for the owner when a 42-year-old Nigerian, Edo-born Emmanuel Ehkator, extradited to the United State of America in 2011 over allegation of mail and wire fraud has been sentenced to a three-year jail term, and also ordered to pay $11,092,028 in restitution to his victims.

Ehkator, who was initially arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before his extradition to the US is to forfeit properties in Canada and the content of several bank accounts in Nigeria according to the District Court judge, Middle District of Pennsylvania, Yvette Kane,

Confirming the sentencing, the EFCC's spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, added that Ehkator was part of an attorney collection scam that was responsible for losses of up to $20million.

Their modus operandi, he said, was for the convict to contact US and Canadian law firms by e-mails claiming to be individuals or businesses outside North America who were owed money by entities in the US and asked for legal representation to collect the money.

"Often, the prospective 'clients' said the money owed came from a real estate transaction, tort claim, or divorce settlement. Once the law firm agreed to represent the out-of-country client, the law firm would be contacted by the U.S. entity purportedly owing money with an offer to pay the client by cheque. The client would instruct the law firm to deposit the cheque in the law firm's trust account, retain the law firm's fee, and wire the remaining funds to accounts in Asia".

The cheque that was then mailed to the law firm would be a counterfeit cheque, a fact that would be discovered only after funds from the law firm's trust account had been wired to the Asian bank.

The counterfeit cheques, which appeared to be drawn on legitimate accounts from well-established financial institutions, often included a telephone number for the financial institution. Lawyers attempting to determine the validity of the cheque would call the number only to reach another conspirator who would falsely verify the cheque.

Ehkator's co-defendant, Yvette Mathurin, has also been charged for conspiracy and is awaiting extradition from Canada while another co-conspirator, Kingsley Osagie, was arrested as he arrived in Atlanta from Nigeria and is currently awaiting trial in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Other co-conspirators are pending extradition from several foreign countries as investigation continues against other members of the large, multi-national conspiracy.

Aside from the EFCC, other agencies that investigated the crime were the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Secret Service, the Toronto Police Services and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the case was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney, Christy H. Fawcett.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201309120166.html

hmm only nigerian. are we the only people on this earth.