 |
| Frank Onyeachonam |
 |
| His property in Lagos |
Frank Onyeachonam targeted elderly victims to pay for his love of the high life – lavishing his illegal earnings on fast cars, designer clothes and luxury watches.
He won his nickname because of his taste for champagne, insisting on drinking a brand named Ace Of Spades as he mingled in exclusive members’ clubs.
But his crimes left behind a string of desperate victims, stripped of their savings, mentally wrecked and often estranged from their families.
Onyeachonam, suspected of being the British frontman of an international gang, defrauded dozens of victims of at least £2million but maybe as much as £30million.
He tricked them into thinking they had won the Australian lottery but had to pay him to ‘unlock their winnings’.
His dupes ended up giving him between £2,000 and £600,000 apiece, despite never having bought any Australian lottery tickets.
One 69-year-old victim, from Crawley, West Sussex, was left with debts of £90,000.
Onyeachonam, 38, bragged online about his wealth – spelling out his name in bank notes in a Facebook photo.
As well as buying designer outfits and stocking his fridge with £500 bottles of champagne, he bought two homes in his native Nigeria. When police raided his Canary Wharf flat in London, they found notes describing victims as ‘old’, ‘poor’ and ‘cripple’, the Old Bailey heard.
Two co-defendants – Lawrencia Emenyonu, 51, and Bernard Armah, 38 – were jailed for 18 months and eight months respectively.
No comments:
Post a Comment