U.S. v. Agbi

Record contained sufficient evidence to support jury’s guilty verdict on counts of mail fraud, use of fictitious name in furtherance of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Record showed that: (1) defendant acted as middleman, where individuals in Nigeria used fake online dating accounts to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars from unwitting senior citizens; (2) victims sent money payments to defendant, where said payments were addressed to defendant under fictitious name; and (3) defendant took percentage of said payments for himself, converted balance of said payments to Nigerian currency and sent payments to Nigerian bank accounts. While defendant argued that government failed to establish his intent to defraud, defendant’s insistence on use of fake name to send him proceeds of fraud allowed jury to find that defendant had requisite intent to defraud. Ct. also rejected defendant’s contention that government failed to prove that he was member of any conspiracy or that he was unaware that proceeds he obtained involved unlawful activity.