Camden County man gets prison for $1.5 million in scams involving fake romance, inheritance, and investments

A 39-year-old Camden County man has been sentenced to six years in New Jersey state prison for his role in an overseas scheme that stole nearly $1.5 million through scams involving fake romance, inheritance, and investments, state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said Wednesday.

Christopher Akeme, of Sicklerville, pleaded guilty in May to one count of financial facilitation of criminal activity and was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Gwendolyn Blue, who also ordered Akeme to pay $1,421,689 in restitution to his victims.

Akeme admitted to his role in the scheme to defraud three vulnerable people out of large sums of money from 2017 to 2020 and to launder those funds to hide their illegal source, Platkin said. Akeme directed the transfer of the money to bank accounts he controlled in the United States before sending the funds to bank accounts in Nigeria.

The three victims included a California resident who drained $926,414 from her retirement savings and investment accounts to financially support a long-distance romance with a person who did not exist, believing she was helping that fictitious individual with medical expenses and an overseas development project, Platkin said.

A second California resident was targeted with an inheritance scam, sending $116,630 intended to release unclaimed funds in a bank account in Barcelona, Spain, that someone supposedly inherited, Platkin said.

The third victim was a resident in Germany who was targeted by a real-estate investment scam that also involved a romance scam initiated on social media, Platkin said. That victim lost $491,645 by sending money to supposedly invest in a condominium in New Jersey.

“Unfortunately, the scams used in this case to steal money and funnel funds to others in Nigeria are common scams that harm victims worldwide,” Pablo Quiñones, legal chief of the Office of Securities Fraud and Financial Crimes Prosecutions in the Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement.

“This case demonstrates our resolve to disrupt sophisticated transactional fraud and money laundering networks and seek justice for the vulnerable victims harmed by such scams,” Quiñones said.