Nigerian-Born Former Professor has been jailed 78 months in US over $921,000 student aid fraud.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Nigerian-born naturalised United States citizen and former adjunct professor has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for orchestrating a five-year scheme to fraudulently obtain student financial aid.
Emmanuel Olugbaike Finnih, 43, of Richmond, Texas, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term.
According to the US Department of Justice, Finnih submitted more than 100 fraudulent financial aid applications using the identities of individuals who were presented as students at colleges and universities across Texas.
He pleaded guilty on March 20 to theft of government funds, fraud, unlawful use or transfer of identity documents and aggravated identity theft.
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US District Judge Andrew Hanen imposed the sentence after evidence showed that Finnih used false identities, academic transcripts, mailing addresses, bank accounts and other fraudulent means to obtain federal financial aid.
The applications sought more than $1.3 million in grants and loans, with $921,189.08 ultimately disbursed, the Justice Department said.
Commenting on the case, US Attorney Aaron Reitz said the scheme added to the financial burden associated with higher education.
“Higher education costs are already skyrocketing out of control, and it’s scammers like Finnih who make it worse, more expensive, and financially damaging for everyone,” Reitz said.
“This fraudster will now suffer the consequences of his manipulative, deceitful, un-American crimes.”
Finnih, who previously worked as an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University, allegedly used the personal information of other individuals to prepare, submit and sign financial aid applications and master promissory notes in their names.
He also controlled email accounts, telephone numbers and mailing addresses used to receive communications from the US Department of Education and educational institutions.
The fraudulently obtained funds were transferred electronically or issued through cheques and prepaid debit cards sent to addresses and bank accounts controlled by Finnih.
The Justice Department said some victims were left with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt incurred in their names. The debts affected their credit and their ability to enrol in legitimate educational programmes.
As part of his guilty plea, Finnih admitted repeatedly using the personal information of two victims over several years to fraudulently obtain federal financial aid.
Investigators also recovered false identity documents, including temporary driving permits and identification cards, which authorities said Finnih intended to unlawfully use or transfer.
Court proceedings further revealed that Finnih sometimes altered the names of female “straw students” to male versions while retaining their correct Social Security numbers and dates of birth, which prosecutors said enabled him to impersonate the individuals.
In one instance, Finnih allegedly contacted a community college after it flagged fraudulent transcripts associated with one of the identities and attempted to have financial aid payments that had been frozen released.
The investigation was conducted by the US Department of Education Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Lone Star College Police Department, US Marshals Service and US Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant US Attorney Brad R. Gray prosecuted the case.
Finnih was permitted to remain on bond following sentencing and is expected to voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated.
