U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Cameroonian National Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for a Business Email Compromise Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MD 03/22/2024) (2024-03-25)
Summary
Press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, dated March 22, 2024, announcing that U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Njuh Valentine Fombe, a Cameroonian citizen formerly residing in Beltsville, Maryland, to 12 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release. The sentence is for conspiracies to commit wire fraud and money laundering and for aggravated identity theft in a business email compromise scheme with intended losses of more than $2 million. The release states that Judge Chasanow also found that Fombe engaged in a pandemic-related unemployment fraud scheme while a fugitive residing in the United Kingdom. Judge Chasanow ordered restitution of $325,856.12 and forfeiture of $547,310.23; Fombe was arrested in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2022 and extradited.
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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Cameroonian National Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for a Business Email Compromise Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MD 03/22/2024) (2024-03-25).”
Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-cameroonian-national-sentenced-to-12-years-9e876d8ec7/
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U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Maryland
Erek L. Barron 36 South Charles Street 410-209-4800
United States Attorney 4th Floor TTY/TDD: 410-962-4462
Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-209-4885
Marcia A. Lubin FAX 410-962-3091
Public Affairs Specialist Marcia.Murphy@usdoj.gov
March 22, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact MARCIA LUBIN
www.justice.gov/usao/md at (410) 209-4885
CAMEROONIAN NATIONAL SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR A
BUSINESS EMAIL COMPROMISE FRAUD SCHEME
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Njuh Valentine Fombe,
a/k/a “Valentine”, age 37, a Cameroonian citizen, formerly residing in Beltsville, Maryland, today to 12 years
in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracies to commit wire fraud and
money laundering, and for aggravated identity theft, in connection with a business email compromise fraud
scheme with intended losses of more than $2 million. Based on court documents and evidence presented
during Fombe’s sentencing, the Court also found that Fombe engaged in a pandemic-related unemployment
fraud scheme while he was a fugitive residing in the United Kingdom.
In addition to prison time, Judge Chasanow ordered Fombe to pay restitution of $325,856.12 and to
forfeit $547,310.23.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron;
Special Agent in Charge James C. Harris of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Special Agent
in Charge Troy W. Springer, National Capital Region of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector
General (DOL-OIG); Chief Robert McCullough of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Chief Russell
E. Hamill III of the Laurel Police Department.
According to court documents and evidence presented at today’s sentencing hearing, from at least
September 2016 to August 2018, Fombe conspired with others to commit wire fraud by conducting business
email compromise (“BEC”) schemes in which Fombe‘s co-conspirators gained unauthorized access to email
accounts, personal identifying information, and bank accounts by sending false wiring instructions to the
victims’ email accounts. Fombe and his co-conspirators then used the illegally obtained personal information
to obtain counterfeit checks in the name and information of the victims’ bank accounts. Victims of the BEC
scheme were from California, Tennessee, Michigan, Hawaii and Illinois. Fombe and his co-conspirators also
registered fraudulent shell entities to facilitate the scheme, opening and managing bank accounts in the names
of the fraudulent shell entities’, as well as their own names and aliases, to direct and receive proceeds of the
BEC and check schemes.
After Fombe’s indictment in 2019, Fombe fled the United States on a fraudulently obtained Honduran
passport, ultimately residing in the United Kingdom until his arrest there on June 16, 2022 and subsequent
extradition to the United States.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended HSI, DOL-OIG, the Baltimore County Police
Department and the Laurel Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O. Hayes, Christopher M. Sarma, and Bijon Mostoufi, who prosecuted the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to
help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-
outreach.
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