AUSTIN – A Nigerian citizen and resident of Canada was sentenced today to nearly 14 years in prison for his role in a fraudulent “sweepstakes” scheme with a loss in excess of $260 million.

According to court documents, on September 4, 2018, Harry Cole, aka “Akintomide Ayoola Bolu,” “John King,” “Big Bro,” “Egbon,”  51, was one of eight defendants charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.  The fraud is a type of “sweepstakes” scheme that ran from 2012 to 2016.  Cole purchased lists of potential elderly victims and their addresses.  Cole and other conspirators based in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada metropolitan area sent packages containing fraudulent sweepstakes information to conspirators residing in the U.S.  The packages contained thousands of mailers that U.S.-based conspirators then sent to victims notifying them that they had won a sweepstakes.  Each mailer included a fraudulent check issued in the name of the victim, usually in the amount of $8,000 and a pre-addressed envelope.

Victims were instructed to deposit the check into their bank account, to immediately withdraw between $5,000 and $7,000 dollars in cash or money orders and to send the money to a “sweepstakes representative” to facilitate the collection of the prize. By the time the bank notified the victim that the deposited check was fraudulent, the victim had sent cash or a money order that was received by the defendants or conspirators. Later, the conspiracy recruited an Austin-based conspirator, Stephen Omowaiye, who printed and sent sweepstakes scam packages to victims and also received victim payments in Austin.

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