Friday, October 9, 2026 -A 35-year-old Nigerian national, Edikan Adiakpan, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison in the United States for illegally transmitting proceeds from an email scam.
The United States Department of Justice made the
announcement in a statement on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
The Houston resident was arrested in June 2025 and pleaded
guilty on May 12, 2026.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered Adiakpan to serve
30 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of
supervised release.
At the hearing, the court heard evidence that from 2020 to
2022, Adiakpan used “Akama Lifestyle,” a company he controlled and advertised
as a luxury car service, to transfer funds for others. He kept a percentage of
transferred funds as a fee.
At the time of his arrest, Adiakpan had temporary legal
status to be in the United States, but is originally from Nigeria.
The funds Adiakpan received and transmitted originated from
fraudsters who carried out a business email compromise scheme targeting more
than 10 victims.
The fraudsters sent “spoofed” emails that appeared to come
from known suppliers and creditors, tricking victims into sending payments to
bank accounts the fraudsters controlled instead of the actual suppliers.
One victim, a small utility trailer company in Mississippi,
provided a victim impact statement that was read at the sentencing hearing
about the effect this fraud had on their company after they were deceived into
wiring money they thought was to their trailer supplier, including $927,080
wired to the Houston fraudsters, who then sent portions of those proceeds to
Adiakpan.
Adiakpan deposited and redeemed several cashier’s checks
payable to himself and his exotic car company that contained $359,000 of the
victim’s money.
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