By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian entrepreneur, Mr Obinwanne Okeke, who was recently arrested in the United States of America for an alleged $11 million fraud, could spend up to 30 years in jail if found guilty of the charges levelled against him.
Mr Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi, was charged with two counts of computer fraud and wire fraud, which carry a maximum 10 and 20 years respectively under American law.
He appeared before Michael Nachmanoff, a magistrate with the District Court of Eastern District of Virginia, on August 7 to answer charges of wire fraud.
The charges were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and filed against Mr Okeke by the U.S. Department of Justice, with both authorities saying they were convinced that Mr Okeke duped a UK subsidiary of Caterpillar up to $11 million in business email fraud, amongst other charges.
It was learned that Mr Okeke has since hired John Iweanoge, a Washington D.C. criminal attorney of Nigerian origin, as his lead defence counsel.
Mr Okeke, however, did not enter a plea at his initial arraignment, but was remanded in custody indefinitely in accordance with the U.S. federal laws on the nature of the criminal complaints against him.
A spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mr Joshua Stueve, disclosed that the detention of the Nigerian would last until a jury has been selected to look into the charges against him, which may take several weeks.
“It may take another two weeks before a new date is fixed for him to appear in court again,” Mr Stueve said on Wednesday. The spokesperson, however, hinted that Mr Okeke would likely get below the maximum sentence.
“Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” Mr Stueve said.
Mr Okeke is being remanded at 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314, the district headquarters of the U.S. Marshall Service following a remand order which was issued at a preliminary hearing shortly after his arrest.
He was arrested on August 6 in Alexandria, Virginia, just moments before he was scheduled to return to Nigeria.
