Lagos court jails Ogun student 14 years for fraud

A 27-year-old undergraduate from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, David Ugboko, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos for defrauding investors through a Ponzi scheme. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that Ugboko defrauded over 500 investors of over N1bn by using funds from new investors to pay earlier depositors, rather than investing the money as promised.

The court heard that Ugboko diverted the funds for personal use, including purchasing a 2006 Mercedes-Benz and commencing the construction of a four-bedroom duplex in Ibadan. The judge found Ugboko guilty of 10 counts of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, and retention of proceeds of crime. If he repays the N27.5m within 90 days, the sentence could be reduced to seven years.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.