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Stanley Hugochukwu Nwoke - also known as “Stanley Banks,” “Banks,” “Hugo Banks,” “Banky,” and “Jose Calderon” - a citizen of Nigeria, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in district court in New Haven this week, U.S. Attorney John Durham announced.
Nwoke, 28, admitted to conspiring with Adeyemi Odufuye and others in a business compromise scheme that targeted hundreds of CFOs, controllers, and others at businesses, nonprofit organizations, and schools in Connecticut and around the country.
As part of the scheme, the men sent emails addressed to executives that were designed to appear as legitimate emails from the CEO or other executives in the business. Durham said the emails were sent with the intent of having recipients send or wire money to bank accounts controlled by the conspirators.
Durham said that the investigation found that the scammers controlled several email and social media accounts that were used during the scam. In some of the instances, emails or attachments containing malware to the business leaders.
In late 2015, Odufuye and others sent dozens of emails to the controller of a company in Torrington. In the emails, Odufuye posed at the real CEO of the victim’s company and instructed the controller to send multiple wire transfers exceeding a total of $1 million from the company’s accounts. The company then sent five wire transfers totaling more than $500,000 to accounts in Virginia, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Hong Kong.
A company in Waterbury was also targeted.
In pleading guilty, Nwoke admitted that his role in the scheme led to $109,100; though the government credits the loss as upwards of $1.8 million. Nwoke was arrested on May 8 last year in Mauritius on May 8 last year and extradited on May 25. He’s currently detained and agreed to pay $662,053.87 in restitution.
Odufuye, formerly residing in Sheffield, United Kingdom, and Adejumo, formerly residing in Toledo, Ohio, both citizens of Nigeria, previously pleaded guilty to similar charges. On Dec. 12 last year, Odufuye was sentenced to 45 months in prison and ordered to pay $921,497.87 in restitution to victims of the scheme. On Aug. 17 last year, Adejumo was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
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