EFCC secures the conviction of an FBI suspect, Akinyemi Festus. [Twitter/@officialEFCC]Ilorin Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of an internet fraudster, and FBI suspect.
The anti corruption agency said this in a statement signed by its Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Dele Oyewale and made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja had convicted and sentenced Akinyemi Festus to two years imprisonment for internet fraud.
The convict was prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal office of EFCC on a two- count charge of internet fraud.
He was also said to be on the wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigations of the United States Department of Justice.
The FBI, in a petition dated July 10, 2019, had appealed to the Ilorin Zonal office of the commission to ensure the arrest and prosecution of Festus for his roles in a multi-million naira international scam.
One of the charges read, “That you Abiona Akinyemi Festus (Ella Jones), sometime between January 2011 and May 2016 at Lagos, by means of fraudulent trick used the email address ellajones05@yahoo.com to bypass online security;
“Obtained the sum of N5, 950, 000 from retirement accounts, held by an insurance company for public workers in the United States of America.”
Festus pleaded guilty to the charge.
The Head of Advance Fee Fraud, EFCC, Ilorin Zonal office, Olamide Sadiq, reviewed the facts of the case, which included that the defendant was arrested based on a petition from the FBI linking him to the offence.
Justice Taiwo convicted him as charged and sentenced him to one year imprisonment on each of the two counts with a N300, 000 option of fine on each of the counts.
The judge also ordered him to return the sums of money he cornered to the FBI.
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