Two Nigerian Men Sentenced to 189 Months in U.S. Cyber Fraud Case

Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and Harafat Mogaji, two Nigerian men, have been handed a combined 189-month federal prison sentence for their roles in a global cyber fraud operation that victimized companies and nonprofit organizations, including targets in Iowa. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, David C. Waterman, announced the sentences in a Department of Justice statement released Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Odimegwu, 25, and Mogaji, 26, were sentenced on Friday, September 25, 2026. Court records and evidence introduced at sentencing showed that over roughly two years, Odimegwu and Mogaji, who were both serving in the U.S. Air Force during that period, used email spam and phishing attacks against businesses throughout the United States to obtain employee email usernames and passwords. The men and their co-conspirators then used those stolen login details, along with spoofed email addresses designed to look like messages from victims or their business associates, to correspond with victims and divert payments between victims and their trusted partners into accounts held by co-conspirators. Along with accomplices in the United States and overseas, Odimegwu and Mogaji unlawfully redirected a wire transfer of more than $1.68 million from a victim in Iowa City, Iowa, to a Chicago bank account controlled by the scheme. They also diverted a wire of more than $720,000 from an Ohio victim to an account controlled by the conspiracy. Those crimes came in addition to numerous other efforts by the pair to reroute wire transfers from businesses in Iowa and elsewhere in the country. The spamming and phishing operations also allowed Odimegwu and Mogaji to collect victims' financial data, including account numbers and related information, personal identification numbers, and credit and debit card numbers. That included credit card details belonging to a nonprofit victim in Pella, Iowa. The defendants also bought similar stolen data from their co-conspirators. They used the information to conduct or attempt financial transactions without victims' knowledge or permission, shared it with one another, and tried to make purchases using data taken from other victims nationwide. Odimegwu received a 111-month prison term and was ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution. Mogaji was sentenced to 78 months and ordered to pay $995,680.45 in restitution. Both were taken into custody after sentencing. Each will also serve a three-year term of supervised release once their prison terms end. "When cyber intrusion schemes target businesses and nonprofits in our communities, we will aggressively surge resources to protect the American people and their life savings," said Eugene Kowel, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Omaha Field Office. "Criminals from all backgrounds attack our digital systems. They strike targets from corporate networks to personal smart phones. No one and no device is immune from the threat. This case demonstrates that we will hold accountable cybercriminals who target our communities. It also serves as a reminder that every organization and every individual should take steps to protect their devices and systems and learn how to recognize and avoid scams. FBI Omaha will continue working with our local, state, and federal partners in the fight to dismantle and disrupt cyber enabled schemes." The FBI investigated the case, with help from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lubben handled the prosecution.