A Nigerian, James Aliyu, has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the United States for his role in a large-scale wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Disclosing this on Saturday via its official X handle, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed that Aliyu played a key role in a scheme targeting business email servers.
“James Junior Aliyu will serve a 90-month sentence for his involvement in wire fraud and money laundering after planning to hack business email servers.
“He was extradited from South Africa to face justice and has been ordered to forfeit $1.2 million and pay $2.4 million in restitution. Upon completing his sentence, he will be removed from the United States,” ICE said.
ICE also noted that special agents in Maryland and South Africa were proud to be part of the international team that investigated the case.
Earlier, the US Department of Justice provided further insight into the case, showing that Aliyu, 30, had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to its August 2025 report, Aliyu “was the last of three defendants to plead guilty to his role in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme,” while “eight other defendants previously pled guilty in the District of Maryland in separate cases related to the same conspiracy.”
U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Kelly O. Hayes, who announced the plea alongside Acting Special Agent in Charge Evan Campanella, said the case underscored the scale of coordinated cyber-enabled fraud.
Based on court filings, “on June 24, 2019, a federal grand jury returned an indictment” charged Aliyu alongside Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. The indictment “was unsealed on July 6, 2022, upon the defendants’ arrests outside of the US” and all three were subsequently extradited to face trial.
“From February 2017 until at least July 2017, Aliyu conspired with others to perpetrate a BEC scheme,” according to the plea agreement cited in the report.
It explained that the syndicate “gained unauthorised access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses that they targeted” and “sent false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from ‘spoofed’ emails… to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by the scheme’s perpetrators.”
The report added that the group also “plotted to commit money laundering,” noting that they “conspired to disburse the fraudulently obtained funds into the drop accounts and to other accounts by initiating account transfers, withdrawing cash, obtaining cashier’s checks, and writing checks… to hide the true ownership and source of the assets.”
