Man Gets 7 Years in Bilking of Elderly

Wilson Chucks Okike, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Thursday for defrauding more than 1,400 U.S. residents, most of them elderly, of at least $1.9 million in an elaborate telemarketing scheme.

Okike, 29, earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of a federal indictment. U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow, summarizing the case, said Okike owned a Vancouver company whose employees told victims they were 99.5% likely to be winners of a foreign lottery. The callers then offered to provide the winnings in exchange for a processing fee.

Later, when no winnings were forthcoming, agents of the company called under false names to tell some victims they would seek to recover the fraudulent fees for them--but only if they paid more fees.

The case was heard in Los Angeles because it was investigated by local offices of the FBI in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Some of the victims were from the Southland.

In most cases, the processing fees were anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a little more than $2,000.

But in one case, involving an 80-year-old Montana woman, the fees collected by the Okike operation amounted to $230,000 over a two-year period.

The woman exhausted her savings and mortgaged her home on the strength of a promise that she had won a $27-million lottery prize. Eventually one of her grandchildren overheard her conversations with the telemarketers and notified the rest of the family. They then went to the police and an FBI investigation was launched.

“I kept sending in checks,” said the woman, whose family insisted that she not be identified. “When money ran out in my bank account . . . I started drawing out of my investments.”

Today, “I have never felt so put out with myself,” she said. “So stupid, for being taken like that. . . . I lost everything.”

After the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Ellyn Lindsay, who is also prosecuting 26 other telemarketing fraud cases for the government, said the lesson of all this is clear: “Don’t send money to get money.”

Lindsay also pointed out that Okike had been operating his telemarketing business since 1997, but the $1.9 million in losses proved through the FBI investigation were for only 1999 and 2000.

Okike, though apologizing for his conduct, begged the judge for mercy. He said the well being of his family, including two siblings whose immigration from Nigeria into Canada he wants to support, was at stake.

But Morrow would have none of that. She pointed to the sufferings of all Okike’s victims, and particularly the Montana woman, whom she referred to as now “living month to month.”

The judge said it would be impractical to order restitution at this time, because of the large number of victims.

But Lindsay said that the Federal Trade Commission has indicated it will pursue restitution in a separate proceeding, and that it hopes to reach agreement with the Canadian government to use assets seized from Okike in Canada.

A small forfeiture of his assets in the United States would be added to those amounts to make restitution possible, the prosecutor said.