A Nigerian man has been handed a significant prison sentence in the United States for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that exploited emergency COVID-19 relief funds.
Five-Year Sentence and Deportation Order
Nosa Edokpaigbe, a Nigerian national, was sentenced to 60 months (five years) in a federal prison. The sentencing took place in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, presided over by Judge Regina M. Rodriguez. The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced the verdict in a statement released by the Department of Justice on Thursday, December 4, 2025.
In addition to the prison term, Edokpaigbe was ordered to pay $1,408,897.16 in restitution. The court also issued a forfeiture money judgment totaling $681,694. Crucially, the defendant agreed to a stipulated judicial removal order, meaning he will be deported to Nigeria after completing his prison sentence.
The Elaborate Pandemic Fraud Scheme
According to the plea agreement, Edokpaigbe's criminal activities spanned from approximately July 2020 to May 2021. During this period, he systematically defrauded two key U.S. government relief programs: the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
His method involved preparing and submitting hundreds of fraudulent loan applications for fictitious business entities. To do this, he unlawfully used the personal identifying information of real individuals without their consent.
Edokpaigbe employed several sophisticated tactics to conceal his involvement:
- Signing loan agreements using stolen identities.
- Creating fabricated documents for the fake businesses.
- Using a wireless hotspot to hide his online activity, a device later seized from his home during his arrest in October 2023.
- Submitting AI-generated images and photos of mannequins to trick the lenders' identity verification systems.
He also filed a fraudulent EIDL application in his own name and submitted hundreds of fake tax returns using other people's stolen data.
Consequences and Official Condemnation
The scheme resulted in the successful payout of $1,389,713 in EIDL and PPP loans. Most of these illicit funds were deposited into bank accounts opened with false identities.
United States Attorney Peter McNeilly strongly condemned the crime, stating, "While others were struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nosa Edokpaigbe saw the national emergency as an opportunity to fleece American taxpayers out of almost $1.4 million. His shameless exploitation of relief programs which were supposed to be a lifeline for people in need has earned him several years in federal prison and a one-way trip back to Nigeria."
Marv Massey, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Denver field office, echoed this sentiment: "Nosa Edokpaigbe took advantage of what he saw as easy money through programs that were created to keep businesses and workers afloat during the pandemic, misdirecting that assistance to line his own pockets. His greed affects every American taxpayer, and the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue opportunists who think they can defraud the federal government."
The investigation was a joint effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Denver Field Office and the Cybercrime Investigations Division of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Cassidy and Anna Edgar.
