A 31-year-old Nigerian, Okpako Mike Diamreyan, who immigrated to the United States on May 30, 2008, has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for planning an advance payment scam that swindled victims to the tune of $1.3m.

Deciding the case filed before United States District Court, District Of Connecticut on April 30, 2010, Mr. Diamreyan was ordered to serve 151 months in federal prison and pay $1m in restitution to the 67 victims he was said to have scammed between 2004 and 2009.

According to the charges files against the Nigerian and obtained by NEXT, “the defendant began committing advance-fee fraud in Nigeria and Ghana no later than 2004. In 2008, he came to the United States, where he married a young woman who supported him by working two jobs and going to school at night. Instead of taking advantage of this opportunity to start a new life, the defendant continued participating in the fraud scheme and, in fact, used his presence in the United States to further the fraud.

“The defendant made no effort to become a productive member of society; instead, he hoped to reap a fortune in crime,” the document read.

How scam worked

According to state prosecutors, Mr. Diamreyan and his accomplice duped their victims, saying one of the victims was called more than 1,200 times over a two-year period.

He was also said to have claimed to have various consignments stored in Ghana worth millions and promised his victims 20-percent commission in exchange for financial help in transferring funds to the US.

“In one such email, the defendant claimed to be in a refugee camp in Ghana, trying to move a consignment worth $23.4 million out of the country”.

Mr. Diamreyan was arrested on August 27, 2009 and convicted by a jury of three counts of wire fraud on February 16, 2010.

In a sentencing memorandum, the court said that “the only way to protect the public from further crimes by the defendant is to incarcerate him for a lengthy period of time.”

http://www.2011electionsnigeria.com/171/a-31-year-old-nigerian-okpako-mike-diamreyan-in-u-s-gets-12-year-jail-term-for-1-3m-scam