The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has convicted and sentenced one Ekwue Joshua Femi to one year imprisonment for defrauding an American, Sheedy Morgan, of $20,000.

He was jailed by Justice O.O. Abike Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, after he was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC.

The suspect was arraigned on two counts of charges bordering on impersonation, obtaining under false pretence and money laundering.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Ekwue Joshua Femi, sometime in May, 2023 In Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable, with intent to defraud one Sheedy Morgan, a United States of America citizen, falsely represented yourself to be Mary Lanning Werner on your Facebook account and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 380 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”

He pleaded “guilty” to the charges preferred against him when they were read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, S.I Sulaiman, reviewed the facts of the case and sentenced the defendant to one-year imprisonment, with an option of fine of N1 million.

The judge ordered that the convict’s mobile phones and Mercedes Benz be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He also ordered that the digital assets recovered from the victim be forfeited and returned to the victim, Sheedy Morgan.