A Lehigh Valley man will spend a year and a day in prison for his part in an Internet scheme that defrauded its victims of nearly $2 million.
Chinedu Ekuma, 45, of Catasauqua, also was sentenced to two years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine, and $1,751,968 in restitution by U.S. District Judge John M. Gallagher, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Ekuma, who also was a Lehigh University physics professor, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in November.
According to court documents and his guilty plea, Ekuma was part of a scheme that obtained money and property from victims through false pretenses from August 2020 through March 2023.
Ekuma owned Intelaris Solutions LLC and Verge Capital, and opened several bank accounts in the name of these entities. According to authorities, Ekuma and others involved in the scam caused the fraud victims to send payments to those companies by making them believe the money was going to businesses or individuals they intended to pay.
Once the money was received, Ekuma transferred the proceeds to others while retaining some amount for himself, authorities said.
Victims lost more than $1.75 million, officials said. Another $650,000 was attempted to be taken in the scheme.