Nigerians have accused the founder of Invictus Group, Obinwanne Okeke, of revealing the names of 77 Nigerians listed in fraud charges by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
A 252-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday charged 77 people, mostly Nigerians, with participating in a massive conspiracy to steal millions of dollars through a variety of fraud schemes and launder the funds through a Los Angeles-based money laundering network.
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FBI had early on Thursday led law enforcement authorities in arresting 14 defendants across the United States, with 11 of those arrests taking place in Los Angeles.
Two defendants were already in federal custody on other charges, and one was arrested earlier this week.
The remaining defendants are believed to be abroad, with most of them located in Nigeria.
The indictment alleges that the defendants and others used various online fraud schemes – including business email compromise (BEC) frauds, romance scams, and schemes targeting the elderly – to defraud victims out of millions of dollars.
Nigerians on Twitter have begun mocking Mr Okeke, accusing him of revealing the names of his accomplices to get lesser sentencing.
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