ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A Nigerian national has received 52-month prison sentence after pleading guilty wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says Uchenna Nlemchi worked with a co-conspirator to steal from a 56-year-old New Mexico widow.
The DOJ says the co-conspirator promised to marry the woman, but asked for money for supposed “business expenses.” The woman sent over $375,000 from her retirement account and from a home equity loan. Some of the funds passed through a fraudulent bank account set up by Nlemchi, the DOJ says.
With money from the New Mexico woman, as well as other victims, Nlemchi was able to put over $868,000 into his bank account before bank investigators started looking closely in 2016, the DOJ says. Around that time, Nlemchi was attending Texas Southern University before being arrested in 2017. He then escaped while released on an electronic monitor and made his way back to Nigeria.
For years, Nlemchi lived as an international fugitive. He was finally re-arrested in Hungary in 2023, the DOJ says.
Now that he has pled guilty to federal crimes, Nlemchi will have to serve over four years in prison and pay more than $500,000 in restitution. He will also have to pay a judgment of over $800,000.
