US Court Sentences Nigerian Man to 8 Years in Prison for $6 Million Inheritance Scam

A federal court in the United States has sentenced Tochukwu Albert Nnebocha, a 44-year-old Nigerian national, to eight years in prison for his role in a large-scale inheritance fraud targeting elderly Americans.

The scheme, which spanned more than seven years, defrauded over 400 victims of more than $6 million, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Nnebocha and his co-conspirators sent hundreds of thousands of letters claiming recipients were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased relatives, often presented as coming from Spanish banks. Victims were asked to pay fees and taxes to access the fictitious funds.

Nnebocha was arrested in Poland in April 2025 and extradited to the United States in September. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The court sentenced him to 97 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered restitution exceeding $6.8 million.

The DOJ said this case marks the second indictment linked to the transnational scheme, which has already led to convictions of eight co-conspirators in the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Nigeria.