Nigerian man Ehis Lawrence Akhimie gets 97-month U.S. prison term for massive inheritance scam.
He defrauded over 400 elderly victims of $6 million in cross-border scheme dismantled by global agencies.
A Nigerian citizen, Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, has been sentenced in the United States to 97 months in prison for his role in an elaborate inheritance fraud that targeted hundreds of vulnerable victims.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which announced the judgment on Monday, September 15, 2025, Akhimie, 41, was sentenced on September 11 after being extradited from the United Kingdom. His conviction brings to eight the total number of Nigerians sentenced for their part in the cross-border fraud scheme.
Court records show that Akhimie belonged to a network that mailed personalized letters to elderly Americans over a period of several years. The letters falsely claimed that recipients were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased relatives abroad. Victims were then told they had to pay a variety of charges including taxes, delivery fees, and administrative costs to receive the funds. In reality, no inheritance existed.
To collect the money, Akhimie and his associates recruited former fraud victims in the United States to act as intermediaries. These unwitting participants were instructed to receive funds from new victims and forward them to the scammers or their associates, helping conceal the trail of illicit payments.
Prosecutors said Akhimie admitted defrauding more than 400 people of over $6 million, most of them elderly or otherwise vulnerable. Officials described the scheme as a sophisticated betrayal of trust that stripped victims of their savings and dignity.
U.S. law enforcement leaders praised the international cooperation that led to the convictions. They said the case shows a unified commitment to protect seniors and punish those who exploit them. Agencies involved included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Europol, and authorities in the UK, Spain, and Portugal. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also played a key role in coordinating extraditions.
Akhimie’s sentencing follows a similar judgment earlier this year. In April 2025, District Court Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced another defendant, Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, who was extradited from Portugal, to 97 months in prison for participating in the same scheme. In total, eight Nigerian nationals have now been convicted and sentenced, while several more investigations remain active.
Prosecutors said the successful outcome of the case demonstrates the strength of cross-border collaboration against transnational fraud and sends a clear warning to anyone seeking to prey on vulnerable people.
