 has apprehended a Nigerian national, Sapphire Egemasi, over her alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar fraud operation targeting several United States government bodies.){kind=link}
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has apprehended a Nigerian national, Sapphire Egemasi, over her alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar fraud operation targeting several United States government bodies.
Egemasi, who has a profile on the software development platform Devpost, was arrested in April in the Bronx, New York.
She was taken into custody alongside several others, including Samuel Kwadwo Osei, who authorities believe coordinated the fraudulent activities.
Their arrests stem from an indictment issued by a federal grand jury in 2024. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, linked to activities said to have occurred between September 2021 and February 2023.
According to federal investigators, the group reportedly defrauded public institutions, including the government of Kentucky, of substantial sums.
Egemasi is accused of helping to create deceptive websites designed to imitate legitimate U.S. government portals.
These spoofed domains were allegedly used to harvest login information and redirect funds to accounts controlled by the syndicate.
Evidence presented by authorities includes text message records showing that approximately $965,000 was diverted from Kentucky into a PNC Bank account in August 2022.
Around the same period, another $330,000 was allegedly moved to a Bank of America account.
Egemasi and her alleged accomplices remain in federal detention and are expected to face trial in Lexington, Kentucky. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years behind bars, substantial monetary penalties, and potential deportation after serving her sentence.