Catasauqua man pleads guilty to defrauding victims of $2 million | Lehigh County

A Catasauqua man has pleaded guilty in a federal fraud case after investigators traced a years-long scheme affecting victims across multiple states.

U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced that Chinedu Ekuma, 45, of Catasauqua, PA, entered a plea of guilty Tuesday on two counts of wire fraud, in connection with a scheme that defrauded victims of nearly $2 million, according to a press release from the DA’s office.

Officials say the defendant was charged by information earlier this month.

As detailed in court filings and admitted to by the defendant, from about August 2020 through March 2023, Ekuma devised a scheme to defraud victims and to obtain money and property of these victims by materially false pretenses, representations, and promises.

The victims were individuals and businesses that intended to make payments for personal and/or business reasons, according to the release.

Ekuma owned entities called Intelaris Solutions, LLC (“Intelaris Solutions”) and Verge Capital (“Verge Capital”), and opened several bank accounts in the name of these entities.

Prosecutors say Ekuma and others tricked victims into sending money to the Intelaris Solutions and Verge Capital bank accounts by falsely claiming the accounts belonged to the people or businesses the victims were trying to pay. However, the Intelaris Solutions and Verge Capital bank accounts were controlled by Ekuma, and the accounts had no legitimate relationship with any of the victims.

Officials say as part of the scheme, the defendant and co-schemers created fraudulent documentation that falsely represented that Intelaris Solutions and Verge Capital were entitled to payments from the victims.

After the fraud proceeds were received into the Intelaris Solutions and Verge Capital bank accounts, Ekuma transferred most of the fraud proceeds to other co-schemers and retained other amounts of the fraud proceeds for himself, according to the DA office.

The court says in total, Ekuma and the others caused the Intelaris Solutions and Verge Capital bank accounts to receive more than $1.75 million from fraud victims and attempted to cause these accounts to receive over $650,000 more from fraud victims.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12 and faces a maximum possible term of 40 years in prison, according to officials.