A fraud scheme that involved Northwoods residents has brought about a prison sentence for a Texas man.
The U.S. Attorney for Western Wisconsin announced Thursday that 33-year-old Emmanuel Odiah of Dallas, Texas has been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison. He also is known as James Princeton and Ryan Morrisson.
The indictment said Odiah opened bank accounts in New York and Georgia using fraudulent United Kingdom passports, and that he and co-conspirators in Nigeria and Ghana created fake profiles on internet dating sites, gained victims’ trust, and then defrauded victims out of money in a variety of ways.
The indictment said Odiah’s co-conspirators directed an individual to wire transfer $66,800 from a bank account in Woodruff, Wisconsin to an account in New York controlled by Odiah.
Between 2017 and 2019, more than $600,000 in fraud proceeds were deposited into these accounts.
He was arrested on July 10 in Texas and was brought to the Western District of Wisconsin. The charge against Odiah is the result of an investigation by federal agencies and the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office.
