Concern grows as more Kenyans are accused of financial crimes in the U.S
American and Kenyan media outlets have been
awash this week with headlines of Kenyans accused and convicted of engaging in
financial crimes in the United States.
These include the two Kenyan nurses nurses
accused of engaging in a Ksh.12 billion (USD 100 million) home health care
fraud scheme.
One of them, Winnie Waruru, pleaded guilty in
a federal court in Boston on September 8 to six counts, whilst her alleged
accomplice, Faith Newton, 52, whom she was arrested and charged along with,
pleaded not guilty and is pending trial.
There are also the 11 Kenyans out of more
than 47 suspects charged in the United States in what has been termed the
largest COVID-19 related scandal yet.
In this case, the suspects are believed to
have stolen USD 250 million (approx. Ksh.30 billion) meant to feed children
during the COVID-19 pandemic, investing the money in different countries
including the US without serving a single meal to the hungry children.
But those aren’t the only Kenyans who have
been accused of financial wrong-doing.
In April this year, Oscar Kipkirui Ng’eno was
accused of 10 counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy for allegedly engaging
in a scheme to deceive and defraud the government of Bernalillo County in New
Mexico, United States.
It is alleged that between October and
December of 2019, the county sent payments totaling $447,372.89 (Ksh.54 million)
to Ng’eno’s account.
He then allegedly distributed a portion of
the funds to his co-conspirators, including by issuing checks totaling $98,930 (Ksh.12
million).
If convicted, the 41-year -ld, who was in the
US on an immigrant visa, could face up to 20 years in prison for each count.
In 2019, Robert Mutua Muli, who resided in
Ohio, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud state and local governments of
millions of dollars.
According to court documents, Robert of
Carrollton conspired with others to defraud state and local governments by
fraudulently pretending to be legitimate government vendors.
Using sham email addresses, the conspirators
sent government entities bogus vendor payment information that caused
government entities to make large payments to bank accounts controlled by Muli.
Muli then quickly transferred the
fraudulently obtained funds to himself and to his co-conspirators, some of whom
were located in Kenya.
Another unnamed Kenyan was handed 10 years in
jail and a Ksh.25 million fine for stealing from the US government in 2019.
The suspect was arrested in September 2016 at
the Los Angeles Airport in California as he tried to flee after committing
crimes involving the theft of Ksh.7.7 million from the US Treasury.
During his trial, the court was told that he
illegally obtained the cash by presenting to the US Department of Treasury a
cheque payable to an individual identified as CS that had been issued on a
federal income tax return filed electronically from Kenya.
He was also convicted of stealing another
treasury refund cheque that had been issued on an electronically filed return
filed in 2012.
The grass may look greener on the other side
but for Kenyans accused of financial fraud schemes, the reality is very
different.
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