The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Nigerian entrepreneur, Obinwanne Okeke of conspiracy to commit fraud running into the sum of 12 million US dollars.
This was disclosed on an affidavit deposed to by one Marshall Ward, a special agent employed by the United States Department of Justice.
According to the information disclosed, the investigation was premised on a complaint lodged by representatives of Unatrac Holdings Limited for being victimized in the fraud.
He was arrested last week on the last day of his trip to the United States for allegedly defrauding top American companies of huge sums. Notably, he allegedly scammed $12m from a steel company by hacking into an executive’s office365 account and sending an email with a fake invoice to the purchase department. His arrest came after Special Agent Marshall Ward of the FBI and the team he heads opened up an investigation in July 2018, following a petition by Unatrac Holding Limited.
The charge sheet reads in part “In June 2018, Unatrac Holding Limited, the export sales office for Caterpillar heavy industrial and farm equipment, headquartered in the United Kingdom, contacted the FBI. They reported that Unatrac had been victimised through an email compromise, which ultimately resulted in fraudulent wire transfers totalling nearly 11million US Dollars. After reviewing the documentation provided by the representatives, the FBI opened an investigation in July 2018.
“The FBI discovered that after capturing the legitimate credentials of Unatrac’s Chief Financial Officer, the accused was able to log in and access the CFO’s entire Office365 account, which included all of his emails and various digital files, the logs indicated that between April 6 and April 20, 2018, the intruder accessed the CFO’s account 464 times, mostly from Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from Nigeria.
“With full access to the account, the intruder sent fraudulent wire transfer requests from the CFO’s email account to members of Unatrac’s internal financial team. The intruder also attached fake invoices to the emails to enhance the credibility of the requests,” the investigator stated. The investigation, painstaking and far-reaching, lasted more than a year during which Obinwanne emerged as the principal culprit and has since been arrested while on his regular visit to the United States.”
Instablog leaked the document titled “How high tech FBI investigation led to the arrest of Forbes-celebrated Nigerian #ObinwanneOkeke (invictusobi) for $12m wire fraud during his recent trip to the U.S”
Read the FBI document in PDF Format below
Obinwanne Okeke (born 9 November 1987) is a Nigerian entrepreneur and the Founder of Invictus Group. In 2016, he was named by Forbes as one of ’30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 to Watch’.
Obi just got married and had a baby last month, and was listed among 100 Most Influential Young Africans 2018 which included Davido, Falz, Ahmed Musa,
Obinwanne Okeke was nominated for the All African Business Leaders Award for Young Business Leader (West Africa). The AABLA Award is the most prestigious award for African businessmen/entrepreneurs. Obi is nominated alongside three others.
Born in Ukpor village in Anambra state as the 17th child of a polygamous father, his mother and other relatives raised him even before his father’s death when he was only 16.
Obinwanne Okeke is the founder of Invictus Group and has been extensively involved in sourcing, structuring, implementing and monitoring various private equity investments in African and Australian markets and has over 10 years of investment experience. Prior to founding Invictus Group, he assisted with founding and running other entrepreneurial establishments. He holds a Bachelors and a master’s degree (MA) in International Relations and Counter Terrorism (cum laude) from Monash University, Australia.
He has received several leadership honorary awards from local as well as international organizations and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 30 entrepreneurs under 30 to watch. The leading publication also featured him on its cover for June 2016.
He is passionate about people and strongly believes in giving back. Over the last decade he has inspired both businesses and individuals in the private sector to invest in the less privileged and the uneducated in countries across the world. He spearheaded inter alia the Literacy Africa project which saw 100 000 (one hundred thousand) books being donated to children in across the African continent in underprivileged schools through Invictus Foundation.
He has received several leadership honorary awards from local as well as international organizations and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 30 entrepreneurs under 30 to watch. The leading publication also featured him on its cover for June 2016.
He holds a Bachelors and a master’s degree (MA) in International Relations and Counter Terrorism (cum laude) from Monash University, Australia.
Obinwanne spearheaded inter alia the Literacy Africa project which saw a hundred thousand books being donated to children in across the African continent in underprivileged schools through Invictus Foundation.
Obi’s business interest span across a number of sectors, which include mainly real estate development, energy and construction. Invictus Group operates in three African countries, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. Most recently, Obi’s focus has been on building energy efficient houses that feed exclusively from solar power.
He accepted an offer from Forbes.com to be a Contributor for Forbes Magazine and published his first essay there in May 2017
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