A court in the United States has sentenced a Nigerian national, Mercy Ojedeji, to more than three years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of fraudulently securing university admission and student visa to work as mule for Nigeria-based scammers. 

According to the Department of Justice, Mr Ojedeji forged several documents, including academic transcripts, recommendations, a resume and a report about his English language proficiency, which he submitted to gain a PhD admission into the chemistry department of University of Missouri in 2023. 

However, upon his arrival in the U.S. the 26-year-old ditched school, forcing University of Missouri to terminate his admission in January 2024 after failing to attend classes, fulfill his graduate assistantship obligations or join a research group. 

His student visa was subsequently terminated in February the same year. 

Instead of reporting to school, prosecutors said Mr Ojedeji linked up with an American woman, Shirley Waller, who is currently serving a term in prison for various fraud charges, with the two acting as criminal contacts through which fraudsters in Nigeria use to re-route their illegal proceeds to the West African nation. 

Before their criminal reign ended, over 193 packages were sent by Nigerian fraudsters to the house Mr Ojedeji and Ms Waller shared together, with the justice department arguing the duo stole over $1 million, going by the $94,150 contained in the 17 packages seized by law enforcement.

The Missouri driver’s license that Mr Ojedeji obtained through his fraudulent student visa allowed him to open a bank account through which the two convicts forwarded the money from their mule activities. He also used the document to obtain the social security number that he and Ms Waller used to rent an apartment. 

During his initial arraignment in the U.S. District Court in Saint Louis in April this year, Mr Ojedeji pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of fraudulent immigration documents and one count of wire fraud. He also admitted to submitting counterfeit documents during his admission application, which allowed to obtain more than $49,000 in tuition waiver.

Passing his judgement on Monday, Judge Henry Autrey sentenced Mr Ojedeji to 41 months in prison. He may also be at risk of deportation to Nigeria following completion of his sentence. 

“It is a terrible shame there are such people existing to steal money from innocent victims such as myself. Another had their water cut off for a month due to non-payment after sending money to scammers,” a widowed scam victim wrote to Mr Autrey urging severe punishment for the defendant.