Nigerian man jailed 20 years for fraud in Houston after $4m romance and business email scam, officials confirm

Nicholas J. Ganjei, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, announced in Houston on Thursday, February 26, 2026, that a 40-year-old Nigerian national residing illegally in the city has been sentenced for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar romance and business email compromise fraud.

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Leslie Chinedu Mba pleaded guilty on December 4, 2025, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to make false statements in immigration documents.

United States District Judge David Hittner sentenced Mba to 228 months in federal prison.

The court confirmed that removal proceedings are expected after completion of the sentence because Mba is not a United States citizen.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, victims lost more than four million dollars in the scheme, which operated from April 2018 to December 2023.

Investigators revealed that the fraud began overseas, where co-conspirators gained unauthorised access to business email accounts and redirected legitimate payments to fraudulent accounts.

Victims believed they were paying legitimate businesses, but funds were instead channelled to accounts controlled by the network.

Mba and others acted as money mules, opening and using bank accounts to collect and transfer illicit proceeds.

At sentencing, Jason Hudson, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Houston Field Office, described the romance scam as particularly disturbing.

Hudson said the fraudsters deliberately targeted vulnerable and elderly Americans, exploiting trust and loneliness, leaving victims financially devastated and emotionally shattered. He pledged the agency would continue its relentless fight against such crimes.

Court records also showed that Mba attempted to secure permanent residency through multiple fraudulent marriages after a prior immigration application was denied and a removal order was issued.

Four co-defendants, Grace Morisho, Rodgers Kadikilo, Kristin Smith and Alexandra Golovko, all of Houston, previously pleaded guilty.

Morisho, Kadikilo and Smith received sentences ranging from 15 to 25 months, while Golovko was sentenced to five years’ probation.

The Nigerian man jailed 20 years for fraud concludes a sweeping investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Houston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Alum prosecuted the case.