HOUSTON - A 35-year-old Houston resident will serve federal prison time for illegally transmitting proceeds from an email scam.

Edikan Adiakpan pleaded guilty May 12.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered Adiakpan to serve 30 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard evidence that from 2020 to 2022, Adiakpan used "Akama Lifestyle," a company he controlled and advertised as a luxury car service, to transfer funds for others. He kept a percentage of transferred funds as a fee.

At the time of his arrest, Adiakpan had temporary legal status to be in the United States, but is originally from Nigeria.

The funds Adiakpan received and transmitted originated from fraudsters who carried out a business email compromise scheme targeting more than 10 victims. The fraudsters sent "spoofed" emails that appeared to come from known suppliers and creditors, tricking victims into sending payments to bank accounts the fraudsters controlled instead of the actual suppliers.

One victim, a small utility trailer company in Mississippi, provided a victim impact statement that was read at the sentencing hearing about the effect this fraud had on their company after they were deceived into wiring money they thought was to their trailer supplier, including $927,080 wired to the Houston fraudsters, who then sent portions of those proceeds to Adiakpan. Adiakpan deposited and redeemed several cashier's checks payable to himself and his exotic car company that contained $359,000 of the victim's money.

Another Nigerian, Ayobami Omoniyi, 27, was sentenced March 24 to 32 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme.

FBI Houston and its Bryan Resident Agency and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek prosecuted the case.