A Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution for defrauding elderly victims in romance schemes.
Ijeoma Okoro, 33, was indicted in September 2021 and proceeded to trial in December 2023.
After seven days of trial and 10 hours of deliberation, a jury convicted her of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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She was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey to 10 years on each count, to run concurrently.
According to evidence presented at trial, Ms. Okoro and other fraudsters assumed fake names and trolled dating sites like Match.com and Zoosk, searching for targets.
Once the fraudsters ingratiated themselves to their often divorced or widowed victims with promises of long-term commitment, the fraudsters concocted elaborate stories about why they needed financial assistance.
A common story was that the fraudster had to travel overseas for work and was unable to access his bank accounts.
As a part of the story, the fraudster often claimed to have experienced an unexpected work-related crisis or a sudden family medical emergency. The fraudster then asked the victims for money to cover the expenses and promised to repay them in the near future.
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Trusting victims sent thousands of dollars to bank accounts opened by the defendant and her coconspirators in the Northern District of Texas. The defendant then distributed the fraudulent proceeds to coconspirators and retained a portion for herself.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, Chief Judge Godbey applied a sentencing enhancement for the defendant’s obstruction of the administration of justice, finding that Ms. Okoro committed perjury when she testified at trial that she never conspired with anyone to commit fraud or money laundering.
To date, four other codefendants have also been convicted for their involvement in the scheme.
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