Lagos court jails Ogun student 14 years for fraud

The Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos has sentenced a 27-year-old undergraduate, David Ugboko, to 14 years in prison for defrauding investors through a Ponzi scheme. Ugboko, a student at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, was found guilty of 10 counts of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, and retention of proceeds of crime.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that Ugboko defrauded over 500 investors of more than N1bn by using funds from new investors to pay earlier depositors. The court also heard that Ugboko diverted the funds for personal use, including purchasing a 2006 Mercedes-Benz and constructing a four-bedroom duplex in Ibadan.

If Ugboko repays the N27.5m to the victims within 90 days, his sentence could be reduced to seven years.

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