A United States (U.S.) Attorney, Brit Featherston, has disclosed that Prince Sobanke Idris Sunday Adereti, a son of a Nigerian traditional ruler, has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for passport fraud and attempted bank fraud.
This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.
According to the statement: “Sobanke Idris Sunday Adereti, 24, pleaded guilty on October 25, 2021, to passport fraud and attempted bank fraud, and was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.
“Additionally, evidence showed that Adereti was the son of a Nigerian traditional ruler and entered the United States on a visitor’s visa in 2018, which has since expired.”
The statement did not, however, mentioned the name of the traditional ruler.
The U.S. embassy explained that Adereti was using multiple passports to defraud people.
The statement further disclosed that:
“According to court documents, in March 2021, Adereti presented a false passport and a falsely procured certified cheque when trying to open a bank account in Flower Mound, Texas.
“The cheque was purchased by a fraud victim who was induced into sending money to Adereti, falsely known as Robinson Elijah. He was likely acting as a money mule to cash the victim’s cheques. When Adereti was arrested, he had additional passports and bank statements in other names in his possession.
“Investigators determined that Adereti was also connected to scams related to business email compromise fraud and other government programme fraud“.
