The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday sentenced Mrs Damilola Ahmed
Adeyeri and her son, Alaba Kareem Adeyeri, to 12 years’ imprisonment
each for duping an American of $82,570.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke
convicted the duo following their plea of guilty to four counts of
“fraudulent trick business email compromise” during their arraignment on
Tuesday.
He sentenced each defendant to three years’
imprisonment on each of the four counts filed against them by EFCC. The
judge said the sentences would run concurrently.
This means Mrs Adeyeri and her son will spend a maximum of only three years in correctional services custody.
EFCC
counsel, Bilikisu Buhari, told the court that mother and son conspired
with one Kareem Russell, still at large, to defraud the Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of American Cranes Manufacturing Company.
Buhari
also called an EFCC investigator, Idi Musa as witness. They committed
the offence in June 2017 and were arrested on September 6, 2019.
Musa
testified that sometime in April 2019, the commission received a
petition from FBI, stating that the official email address of American
Cranes Manufacturing Company was hacked and the sum of $82, 570 was lost
to the fraudsters.
Idi said Damilola was arrested on September
6, 2019, after which his mother was apprehended when she went to
withdraw money from the bank upon hearing that EFCC was investigating
her son.
She purchased properties in the name of her son with the
money made from the fraud. The prosecutor said Mrs Adeyeri and her son
carried out the fraud by “dishonestly representing yourselves as the CEO
of American Cranes Manufacturing Company and thereafter you sent an
email from personal@managements-securemail-office-portal.online with
intent to gain advantage to yourselves.”