The United States of America has declared a Nigerian man wanted for defrauding New York State a whopping $30 million.
The 29-year-old Nigerian man, identified as Chidozie Collins Obasi, is being accused by the States of allegedly defrauding some hospitals located in the United State of $31 million by offering non-existent COVID-19 ventilators for sale.
According to the statement released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ)on Friday, the suspect is said to have perpetrated the scheme from Nigeria with the help of co-conspirators abroad between September 2018 and June 2020.
Obasi and his accomplices allegedly obtained more than $31,000,000 through a complicated fr@ud scheme, the majority coming from the State of New York.
“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 sc@m, including hospitals,” the statement read in part.
