Godwin Nwaofor had a 'suckers list' of target victims to send
bogus letters. The letters were sent by a ‘lottery agent’ targeting mainly
American pensioners informing them they had won the Australian Lottery.
He
received around £1million from the scam and blew the money on luxury cars, gold
jewellery and expensive champagne at top nightclubs in London. Nwaofor
helped another Nigerian, Frank Onyechonam, who was nicknamed ‘Fizzy’ for his
love of vintage champagne and jailed for eight years in 2014. Judge Richard
Hone QC had little sympathy for Nwaofor, who broke down in tears at Central
Criminal Court as he was jailed for seven years.
A conman funded a playboy lifestyle by cheating pensioners out of
their life savings.
Godwin Nwaofor, 36, kept a 'suckers list' of potential victims to
send bogus letters suggesting they had won the Australian Lottery
Nwaofor was a ‘willing and enthusiastic lieutenant’ to the
mastermind of the con, another Nigerian, Frank Onyechonam, who was nicknamed
‘Fizzy’ for his love of vintage champagne.
Onyeachonam was jailed eight years last year, after he was exposed
as the chief player in the scam.
He drove a Maserati and fired bubbly corks across exclusive
private members clubs as he lived a life of fantastic luxury on his victim’s
life savings.
The letters were sent by a ‘lottery agent’ targeting mainly
American pensioners informing them they had won a life-changing prize and
requesting a modest sum to release the funds.
Believing they had won, victims were hooked into paying fees to
release their ‘winnings’ through an agent who would demand ‘activation fees’ to
release their cash.
In some cases, dupes set up businesses in an attempt to receive
their winnings and became unwitting money mules laundering cash from other
victims.
Nwaofor, of Camberell Green, south London, was found guilty of
conspiracy to defraud, converting criminal property, and acquisition of
criminal property
Onyeachonam, of Canning Town, east London, was found guilty of
conspiracy to defraud between January 2005 and December 2012.
Pictured is a Porsche car he
owned
Nwaofor, a father of two, regularly switched addresses to avoid
being caught.
One victim, a 76-year-old woman, who believed she had won $1.85m,
tried to track down Nwaofor after the FBI told her she had fallen victim to a
scam.
She flew to the UK and went to the address she had for Nwaofor,
but found that he had already moved on to another address.
Judge Richard Hone QC said the evidence in the case, at Central
Criminal Court, against Nwaofor was ‘overwhelming’ and showed him to be a
proven liar.
‘You have a tendency to be dishonest in your dealings with
landlords, agencies, the police, HMRC, and car hire firms’, he said.
‘You also moved addresses regularly to ensure your whereabouts
remained a mystery.’
Police identified 406 victims from two notebooks found at Onyeachonam’s
Canary Wharf penthouse when he was arrested.
They seized Louis Vuitton shoes, Gucci handbags, a collection of
expensive watches and dozens of designer shoes, as well as 5,000 pictures of
Onyeachonam flaunting his wealth at exclusive upmarket venues including the
Guvnor Bar in Docklands, east London.
One picture shows him showering a friend with champagne, in others
he poses with scantily clad blondes or waves wads of £50 notes.
Onyeachonam was jailed eight years last year, after he was exposed
as the chief player in the scam. Pictured is champagne found at his home
There was also evidence of extensive communication with Lagos
resident Ese Orogun, nicknamed the ‘chairman’, who is thought to be the global
mastermind of the fraud.
He lives in a private gated community, is a ‘celebrity’ in the
Nigerian capital and drives multiple supercars, including a Maserati and a
Porsche.
Detectives fear the scale of the fraud could even mushroom to
£30million if all the details discovered in notebooks and emails can be traced
to victims.
Nwaofor moved to the UK in January 2006 from Nigeria and soon
married a German citizen.
He has two children with her, aged six and
six-months-old.
He broke down in tears as he was jailed for seven years this
morning, but the judge said he did not believe the remorse was genuine.
‘Just as a crocodile sheds its tears while devouring its prey, so
the copious weeping in court is not hypocritical remorse but tears of
frustration that in spite of your careful concealment, you have been well and
truly rumbled’, the judge told him.
‘This Australian lottery scam has brought penury and debt to your
victims who were ruthlessly milked of their hard earned savings.’
Nwaofor will serve half his sentence in prison and the remaining
part on licence and will also now face confiscation proceeds
Pictured is Frank Onyeachonam's nicknamed 'Fizzy' displayed
in bank notes
The judge said although ten victims were traced by prosecutors as
having fallen for Nwaofor’s scam, but that was probably the ‘tip of the
iceberg’.
‘Vast sums of cash you used to fund a luxury lifestyle, with top
of the range hire cars, large watches, gold jewellery, expensive nightclubs’,
said the judge.
‘It shows you made the best part of £1m yourself.’
Nwaofor, of Camberell Green, south London, was found guilty of
conspiracy to defraud, converting criminal property, and acquisition of
criminal property.
He will serve half his sentence in prison and the remaining part
on licence and will also now face confiscation proceeds.
Onyeachonam, of Canning Town, east London, was found guilty of
conspiracy to defraud between January 2005 and December 2012.
Source:
Daily Mail UK
Photo Credit: Daily Mail UK
No comments:
Post a Comment