Agents Arrest Nigerian National Over Alleged Fraud Scheme

U.S. Secret Service agents have arrested a Nigerian national for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud a Southern California businessman out of $1.8 million.

Authorities said Hilary Okey Amadi, 45, is linked to other suspects in a web of Nigerian organized crime rings engaged in mail fraud and other scams.

Amadi, who is charged with wire fraud, was ordered detained as a flight risk Wednesday, a day after he was arrested at his West Hollywood home. Authorities said Amadi has a visa to the United States but that some of his immigration papers have expired.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan De Witt said Amadi posed as a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1993 and contacted an apparel firm owed $35 million by the Nigerian government. He allegedly promised to help a company director collect on the debt in exchange for fees paid upfront.

In a second series of alleged rip-offs, the same victim in 1994 met in Cameroon with several people who had identified themselves as Nigerian government officials and had showed him U.S. currency covered with black powder. They said they would give the man the money if he first paid them for chemicals to clean it. He told investigators he eventually paid about $1.8 million.

Solicitations continued until early this year. After the victim, a Diamond Bar man, complained to authorities, investigators staked out a print shop from which Amadi allegedly faxed the victim. They later served a search warrant at Amadi’s Beverly Hills business, Acme Employment Agency.

A preliminary hearing for Amadi is set for April 13.