A Nigerian-born naturalised United States citizen and former adjunct professor has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for orchestrating a five-year scheme to fraudulently obtain student financial aid.
Emmanuel Olugbaike Finnih, 43, of Richmond, Texas, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
According to the US Department of Justice, Finnih submitted more than 100 fraudulent financial aid applications using the identities of people posing as students at colleges and universities across Texas.
He pleaded guilty on March 20 to charges including theft of government funds, fraud, unlawful use or transfer of identity documents, and aggravated identity theft.
US District Judge Andrew Hanen imposed the sentence after evidence showed that Finnih used false identities, academic transcripts, mailing addresses, bank accounts and other fraudulent means to obtain student financial aid.
The applications sought more than $1.3 million in grants and loans, of which $921,189.08 was actually disbursed, the Justice Department said.
Finnih, who previously worked as an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University, allegedly used other people's personal information to prepare, submit and sign financial aid applications and master promissory notes in their names.
Authorities said he also controlled the email accounts, telephone numbers and mailing addresses used to receive communications from the US Department of Education and educational institutions.
The fraudulently obtained money was received through electronic transfers, cheques and prepaid debit cards sent to addresses or bank accounts controlled by Finnih.
Some victims were reportedly left with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt in their names, negatively affecting their credit and their ability to enrol in legitimate educational programmes.
As part of his guilty plea, Finnih admitted that he repeatedly used the personal information of two victims over several years to fraudulently obtain federal financial aid.
Investigators also recovered fraudulent identity documents, including temporary driving permits and identification cards, which authorities said Finnih intended to unlawfully use or transfer.
The court heard that Finnih sometimes changed the names of female “straw students” to male versions while retaining their correct Social Security numbers and dates of birth, allowing him to impersonate them.
In one case, he allegedly contacted a community college in an attempt to have financial aid payments unfrozen after the institution identified fraudulent transcripts connected to one of the identities.
The investigation was conducted by the US Department of Education Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Lone Star College Police Department, US Marshals Service and US Postal Inspection Service.
Finnih was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Brad R. Gray.
He was allowed to remain on bond and is expected to voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility that will be designated for him.
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