Nigerian Citizen Sentenced for International Money Laundering

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Uyiosa Eribo, age 42, and a citizen of Nigeria, was sentenced today to 10 months in jail for using a foreign bank account to accept money from fraud victims in the United States.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and James D. Robnett, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of IRS-Criminal Investigation.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also ordered Eribo to pay $11,000 in restitution to his victims, and to pay a $3,000 fine.

Eribo pled guilty to international money laundering charges on February 1, 2017. He admitted that in 2014, he opened and maintained a bank account in the United Kingdom. He used this account to receive wire transfers from people in the United States knowing that the money he received was proceeds of Internet-based frauds targeting United States residents. Eribo’s conspirators, who were based in Nigeria and elsewhere, had the actual contact with the victims and directed that the victims send money to Eribo.

Among other things, Eribo received proceeds from a stolen identity federal income tax refund fraud, in which a New York married couple’s names, social security numbers and financial information were used without their authorization to file a fraudulent federal tax return and obtain a $482,000 tax refund from the United States Treasury Department. Eribo’s account received part of this tax refund.

This case was investigated by the New York Field Office of IRS-Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.