A United States District Court has sentenced Nigerian national, Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, to more than eight years in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme that defrauded over 400 victims of more than $6 million.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced that Akhimie, 41, was sentenced on September 11, 2025, to 97 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges, according to Investors King.
Court documents revealed that he and his accomplices orchestrated an elaborate scam targeting mainly elderly and vulnerable individuals across the United States.
According to prosecutors, Akhimie and others posed as foreign bank officials, sending personalised letters to victims claiming they were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased relatives abroad. Victims were instructed to pay various charges, including delivery fees and taxes, to secure the supposed funds.
These payments were then laundered through a network of intermediaries, including former victims who were deceived into acting as conduits for the syndicate.
