Egemasi helped design spoof websites impersonating official government domains.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Nigerian tech enthusiast Sapphire Egemasi in connection with a multi-million dollar fraud scheme targeting U.S. government agencies.
Egemasi, who operates a Devpost account, was apprehended in April in Bronx, New York, alongside co-conspirators, including alleged syndicate leader Samuel Kwadwo Osei. The arrests stem from a federal grand jury indictment filed in 2024, charging them with internet fraud and money laundering for crimes committed between September 2021 and February 2023.
Investigators allege Egemasi helped design spoof websites impersonating official government domains, enabling the theft of login credentials and the transfer of stolen funds.
The syndicate reportedly rerouted $965,000 from the city of Kentucky into a PNC Bank account in August 2022, and funneled another $330,000 into a Bank of America account.
Egemasi and others remain in federal custody pending trial in Lexington, Kentucky. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison and eventual deportation.