A former New Bedford man has been sentenced for running a 'romance scam'

Matthew Ferreira, The Standard-Times
·2 min read

BOSTON — A former New Bedford man was will serve time for wire fraud and money laundering charges connected to a "romance scam," the United States Attorney's Office announced.

According to a press release, Chukwunonso “Douglas” Umegbo, 39, was sentenced to 42 months in prison, to be followed by a year of supervised release. He must also pay $578,954 in restitution and forfeiture. The release lists several aliases for Umegbo, including James Abbott, Michael Philips, and Richard Armani.

Between 2018, or possibly earlier, through as late as 2019, the release states Umegbo opened accounts at banks around Greater Boston for purposes of receiving money from his "romance scam" victims. According to the release, romance scams are when "perpetrators create fictitious online personas to develop online romantic relationships with individuals in the U.S., and then leverage those relationships to obtain money and/or property."

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Once fraudulently obtained funds were received, the release says Umegbo would withdraw them in cash, and from there either obtain cashier's checks or spend it, according to the release, which notes over $568,000 was obtained by Umegbo this way.

"Even after leaving the U.S., Umegbo continued to obtain bank account information from co-conspirators in Massachusetts, to whom he directed victim funds," the release reads.

Umegbo arrested overseas

Umegbo was arrested in London in April 2022 and extradited to the U.S. in February 2023, and has since remained in custody, the release reads. He pleaded guilty this past January to six counts of making a false statement to a bank, two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

According to the release, the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs "provided valuable assistance in securing the arrest and extradition from the U.K. of Umegbo." Umegbo was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristen A. Kearney and Leslie A. Wright of the Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Ex-New Bedford man sentenced after making over $578K on 'romance scam'