Two Sentenced In Connection With Fraud Ring That Stole Millions

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado, dated April 8, 2026. Ikponmwosa Erhinmwinrose will spend 17 years in federal prison after a federal jury in Denver convicted him on six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of wire fraud conspiracy, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Nyerhovwo Presley Agbure will spend 57 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to the evidence presented at trial and sentencing, the conspirators applied for more than $90 million in government benefits, stole more than $7.6 million, and used the stolen identities of more than 1,000 victims. Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney presided over the sentencing.

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PRESS RELEASE

Two Sentenced In Connection With Fraud Ring That Stole
Millions In Government Funds, Thousands of Identities

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado
USACO.PublicAffairs@usdoj.gov


DENVER – The United States Attorney for the District of Colorado announces that
Ikponmwosa Erhinmwinrose, 39, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Nyerhovwo Presley Agbure, 34,
of Atlanta, Georgia, each sentenced in connection to a fraud ring that stole millions in
government funds and victimized thousands of people nationwide. Erhinmwinrose will
spend 17 years in federal prison after a federal jury in Denver convicted him on six
counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of wire fraud
conspiracy, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Agbure will
spend 57 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to
commit money laundering. Two other codefendants await sentencing.

According to the evidence presented at the trial and sentencing of Erhinmwinrose, he
and other conspirators including Agbure, applied for more than $90 million in
government benefits and stole more than $7.6 million in government benefits from the
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program,
multiple state unemployment insurance programs including from the state of Colorado,
and tax refunds. The PPP and EIDL are economic relief programs launched by the
federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To obtain these benefits, Erhinmwinrose, Agbure, and other conspirators in the fraud
ring used the stolen identities of more than 1,000 victims. As a result of Erhinmwinrose
and Agbure’s actions, identity-theft victims never received IRS stimulus payments,
received letters in the mail stating that they had to start repaying loans that were taken
out in their names, and faced backlash on social media because others thought they had
taken out large loans that in fact went to Erhinmwinrose, Agbure, and other members of
his fraud ring. To facilitate the criminal activity, the defendants created dozens of email
accounts under false names to impersonate real individuals and businesses, worked with
conspirators to submit fraudulent applications for benefits, and then instructed a
network of conspirators to launder the proceeds through multiple bank accounts before
converting the money to cash or transferring it overseas.

“Driven by greed and selfishness, these criminals ran an aggressive fraud scheme which
stole millions of dollars from American taxpayers and victimized more than a thousand
innocent people,” said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter
McNeilly. “The United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Colorado in partnership
with the National Fraud Enforcement Division will continue to vigorously seek out and
prosecute those who defraud and victimize American taxpayers.”

United States District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney presided over the sentencing.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, FDIC Office of Inspector General,
Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection
Service, and U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General handled the
investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Craig Fansler and Sonia Dave handled the prosecution.

The core mission of the National Fraud Enforcement Division is to zealously investigate
and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The National
Fraud Enforcement Division will fulfill that mission by coordinating with agencies
responsible for administering benefit programs; partnering with federal, tribal, state,
territorial, and local law enforcement on fraud-fighting efforts; developing systems and
processes that ensure efficient identification of fraud against taxpayer dollars; and
equipping prosecutors and law enforcement with state-of-the-art tools and resources
needed to bring criminal actors to justice. The attorneys in the National Fraud
Enforcement Division will work every day to protect the financial integrity of our
government and the tax system that supports it.

Department of Justice efforts support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a
whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud,
waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud
(NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

Case Number: 1-23-cr-00300-CNS
Contact
USACO.PublicAffairs@usdoj.gov

Updated April 8, 2026


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