Indictment Names Men Accused of Trying to Steal Millions from Portland Public Schools

A federal indictment announces that two Nigerian men are accused of trying to steal millions of dollars from schools.  Their alleged targets included Portland Public Schools.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Kieran Ramsey says quote: “The level of greed it takes to steal from schools and hospitals, especially during the height of a global pandemic, is beyond disturbing,”

The indictment says 35 year old Efeturi Ariawhorai and 41 year old Ikenna Nwajiaku were emailing school systems, hospitals and companies, pretending to be employees and contractors and asking for payments.  It says that they actually did collect $6 million total.  But Portland Public Schools caught and reported the fraud to the FBI and got its money back. Other alleged victims were not as lucky.

The men are facing wire fraud charges for trying to take a total of $25 million from 20 schools, including $2.9 million from Oregon’s largest school system.  The U.S. Attorney for the district of Oregon says they also targeted schools in California, Idaho, Wyoming and Texas. 

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