Prince Boateng Adjei, age 31, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, has admitted to wire fraud involving more than $1 million stolen from a Gilmer County, West Virginia, business.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Adjei and another defendant, Chisom Okonkwo, conspired together to carry out a business email compromise scheme. The defendants created an email disguising themselves as an employee of a Gilmer County business. This type of activity is commonly referred to as “spoofing.” As part of the fraud scheme, the defendants caused a person (who believed they were dealing with a legitimate business) to send more than $1 million to a bank account controlled by the defendants. Adjei and Okonkwo spent more than $600,000 of the stolen funds before the scheme was discovered.
Okonkwo pled guilty earlier this month. She will be sentenced at a later date.
As a part of the plea agreement, Adjei agreed to pay $610,146.03 in restitution. He faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod Douglas is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The United States Secret Service investigated the case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.
