Adebayo Adenrele
The United States has declared a 29-year-old Nigerian man, Chidozie Collins Obasi, wanted for defrauding US Hospitals of $31 million.
According to the statement of the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Obasi offered non-existent COVID-19 ventilators for sale and had perpetrated the scheme from Nigeria with the help of co-conspirators abroad between September 2018 and June 2020.
NEWSTODAYNG gathered that Obasi and his accomplices allegedly obtained $31,000,000 through a complicated fraud scheme, the majority coming from the State of New York.
The statement read in part, “The scheme alleged in the Indictment began in September 2018, with a spam email campaign that offered phony “work from home” jobs. When a person responded to the phony job offer, Obasi or a co-conspirator posed as a representative of a legitimate company, often a supposed medical equipment supplier based outside the United States, and offered the person a job as the company’s U.S. representative with responsibilities including collecting on outstanding invoices.”
“In 2020, Obasi went further to pose as a ventilator salesman for an Indonesian medical supply company. Obasi allegedly convinced a medical equipment broker in the U.S. to broker sales of these non-existent ventilators, and ultimately deceived the State of New York into wiring more than $30 million for the purchase of ventilators that did not exist. He continued to target other potential customers with this same scam, including hospitals,”
According to the indictment sheet, Obasi who is presently a fugitive and wanted by the United States, is being charged with “one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud and 16 counts of wire fraud.”
Obasi faces a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison, a five-year period of supervised release, and a $5,750,000 fine and would also be required to make full restitution of more than $31,000,000 that he obtained by fraud if found guilty.
