Man Convicted of Defrauding the University of Illinois Sentenced to 42 Months

URBANA, Ill. – U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce sentenced Eric Marcel Mboule, 35, of Tucker, Georgia to serve 42 months in federal prison for his role in defrauding the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana out of more than $265,000. Mboule previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Following his sentence, Mboule was ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

In 2016, Mboule along with Patrick Guentangue and others executed a fraudulent scheme to deceive University of Illinois officials into believing that a building contractor working at the U of I had changed banking information in advance of the contractor receiving the next scheduled payment. Based on that deception, the University of Illinois wired a contractual payment into an account owned by Guentangue, under an alias, and not into the contractor’s account. Mboule then sent messages to Guentangue directing him exactly how he should then disburse the fraudulently obtained funds to others involved in the fraud. For his role, in December of 2018, Guentangue was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

As part of his sentence, Judge Bruce ordered Mboule to pay restitution to the University of Illinois in the amount of $265,193.75.

The charges are the result of an investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen in the prosecution.