Friday, May 24, 2024 - Darlington Akporugo and his fiancée, Jasmin Sood, who were supposed to get married tomorrow, May 25, in Houston, Texas, USA, have been arrested for alleged fraud, with their wedding called off.
The couple was arrested in April on charges of conspiring to
defraud more than a dozen elderly Americans who believed they were engaged in
online romantic relationships with Akporugo.
The United States Department of Homeland Security accused
the 46-year-old Nigerian and Sood, 35, of committing a mail and wire fraud that
cost victims $3.123 million.
According to investigators, between approximately 2015 and
2022, the fraudsters allegedly used fictitious personas and sought out and
contacted elderly victims online who were often widowed.
The indictment alleges they used social networking and
internet dating platforms and communicated with victims using email, text
messages, and telephone to gain their trust.
The scammers would then ultimately deceive them into
transferring large sums of money to various fraudster-controlled or influenced
mailing addresses and bank accounts, many Akporugo and Sood owned or
controlled, according to the charges.
After establishing trust with the victim online, Akporugo
and Sood approached at least one victim in the Houston area in person,
according to the allegations. They then allegedly drove the victim to banks to
send money to the fraudster network and convinced her to give Akporugo control
of the victim’s banking access devices.
The indictment also charges Akporugo with aggravated
identity theft and fraud in connection with an access device.
The scheme allegedly resulted at least 13 victims being
defrauded of approximately $3,123,073.
If convicted, both face up to 30 years imprisonment for each
of the wire fraud counts and conspiracy.
Akporugo faces an additional 10 years on the fraud in connection with an access device and another mandatory two years if convicted of the aggravated identity theft.
Watch the couple's extravagant pre-wedding videos below
Man’s wedding called off after he and his fiancée were arrested over alleged fraud in the U.S pic.twitter.com/dI2ATMTtpi
— DAILY POST 🇰🇪 (@dailypost_ke) May 24, 2024
Man’s wedding called off after he and his fiancée were arrested over alleged fraud in the U.S pic.twitter.com/ry97Ke4S9T
— DAILY POST 🇰🇪 (@dailypost_ke) May 24, 2024
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