Two Nigerian-born men who were serving in the United States Air Force have been sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in an international cyber fraud scheme targeting businesses and nonprofit organisations across the United States.
Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu, 25, was sentenced to 111 months (nine years and three months) in federal prison, while Harafat Mogaji, 26, received 78 months (six years and six months).
The two men, who were based in Delaware and were members of the U.S. Air Force at the time of the offences, were sentenced on September 25, 2026, in the Southern District of Iowa. Both were taken into custody following sentencing.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the pair spent nearly two years carrying out email-spamming and phishing campaigns designed to steal usernames and passwords from employees’ email accounts.
The stolen credentials were then allegedly combined with spoofed email addresses made to appear as though they belonged to legitimate businesses or their trusted partners. The defendants and their co-conspirators used the compromised accounts and fake addresses to redirect legitimate business payments into bank accounts controlled by members of the network.
In one of the major incidents, more than $1.68 million transferred by a victim in Iowa City was diverted to a bank account in Chicago controlled by the conspiracy. More than $720,000 belonging to another victim in Ohio was also diverted.
Investigators said the scheme involved numerous other attempts to redirect business payments from victims in Iowa and elsewhere in the United States.
Beyond the fraudulent wire transfers, prosecutors said the defendants also harvested sensitive financial information from victims, including bank account numbers, personal identification numbers, and credit and debit card details.
The stolen information included credit card details belonging to a nonprofit organisation in Pella, Iowa. Prosecutors said Odimegwu and Mogaji exchanged stolen financial information with each other, purchased additional stolen information from co-conspirators and attempted to use the information to carry out unauthorised transactions and purchases.
Odimegwu was ordered to pay $366,617.59 in restitution, while Mogaji was ordered to pay $995,680.45.
Following their prison sentences, both men will serve three years of supervised release.
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