Two Nigerians resident in the United States, Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in an international cyber intrusion scheme that defrauded businesses of more than $2.4 million.
The two men, who were Delaware residents and members of the United States Air Force at the time of the offences, were sentenced on September 25, 2026, after being convicted.
A statement issued by Public Information Officer MacKenzie Tubbs said the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, **David Waterman**, made the announcement.
According to the statement, Odimegwu, Mogaji and their co-conspirators targeted businesses across the United States for nearly two years through email spamming and phishing campaigns.
The group allegedly stole usernames and passwords from employees’ email accounts and used the credentials to facilitate fraudulent transactions.
They also allegedly used spoofed email addresses made to resemble those of victims or their business partners to redirect legitimate business payments into bank accounts controlled by the conspiracy.
Tubbs said the defendants and their associates fraudulently diverted more than $1.68 million in a wire transfer sent by a victim in Iowa City, Iowa, to a Chicago bank account controlled by the group.
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They also diverted more than $720,000 sent by another victim in Ohio.
The statement added that the suspects harvested financial information during the phishing operations, including bank account details, personal identification numbers, and credit and debit card information.
Some of the stolen information belonged to a non-profit organisation in Pella, Iowa.
According to the US authorities, the defendants exchanged the stolen financial information with their co-conspirators and attempted to use it to conduct unauthorised transactions and make purchases.
Odimegwu was sentenced to 111 months in prison and ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Mogaji received 78 months and was ordered to pay $995,680.45 in restitution.
Both men were taken into custody after sentencing.
Upon completing their prison terms, they will each serve three years of supervised release.
