Two South Orange Residents Plead Guilty To Money Laundering

Two South Orange men pleaded guilty on Thursday for their roles in a scam that used phony identification documents to set up various checking accounts to launder and steal more than $1 million.

Abiatu Umah, 53, and Emmanuel Awa, 51, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court. Both pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

The men admitted to a scheme where from February 2009 to August 2010, they opened business checking accounts at various banks and used them to receive funds. The funds were wire transferred without authorization and transferred from accounts, within and outside the United States, which had been compromised.

The men used aliases for the accounts.  Awa used the name” Emanuel Albert Smith” and Umah used the name “Edwin John Nicholas.”  Awa and Umah created and presented a fictitious passport, supposedly issued by the United Kingdom, in the name of their alias.  They frequently used the name of the compromised account as the name of the recipient account, adding terms such as “LLC” or “Corporation” to make it appear as though the two accounts were related.

They opened more than 14 recipient accounts and received approximately $1 million in proceeds derived from the compromised accounts. They then used those proceeds for their personal benefit.

The wire fraud charge to which both men pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.  The money laundering charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing before Judge Martini is scheduled for April 18, 2012.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited IRS - Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Victor W. Lessoff, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Postal Inspector in Charge Philip R. Bartlett, with the investigation leading to the pleas.