Fraudulent Lottery Scheme Land Man Nine Years in Jail
A Canadian man from Vancouver, British Columbia was sentenced by the United States District Court for running a lottery scam targeted at elderly Americans.
Henry Anekwu, 43, was sentenced to 108 months, or nine years, for running the scam that cost some elderly Americans at least $600,000.
United States District Court Judge John F Walker passed down the sentence and ordered Anekwu to pay $510,840 in restitution to his victims.
In the sentencing hearing, Judge Walker commented on Anekwu's lack of remorse for his victims who suffered devastating consequences as a result of his behaviour.
Anekwu was convicted of ten counts of mail fraud committed through telemarketing and six counts of wire fraud committed through telemarketing. He ran his scam out of two Canadian companies he owned - Capital Award, Inc and Platinum Award, Inc.
From 1993-2003, Anekwu was shown to have employed telemarketers with the job of contacting potential victims in the United States and deceptively notifying them that they had won the lottery.
The victims were told they had to pay taxes or heavy fees before they could collect their winnings. Checks were sent to the falsified lottery companies by the victims for amounts ranging from $475 to $60,000.
Seventy nine victims were identified and none of them received any winnings.
The sentence brief filed by the prosecutors in the Court stated: "If a victim sent money, (Anekwu) or the telemarketers he employed would call the victim, over and over again, demanding more and more money, even encouraging the victims to borrow money and / or mortgage their homes."
Judge Walter said that the victims were financially and emotionally devastated by Anekwu's scam and that it was 'painful' to hear their testimony.
