Fake PA Company Made $31M In Fake Ventilator Sales Amid Pandemic: Feds

PENNSYLVANIA — A Nigerian man made more than $31 million in a complex Pennsylvania-based fraud scheme where he offered non-existent medical ventilators for sale during the height of the pandemic, authorities said.

Chidozie Collins Obasi, 29, remains wanted. He faces up to 631 years behind bars on numerous charges, including mail and wire fraud.

Obasi remained in Nigeria throughout the scheme. In March 2020, with ventilators in high demand and millions hospitalized, seriously ill, or dying, Obasi claimed to be a representative of an Indonesian medical supply company with a large stockpile of the machines, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said.

He claimed the ventilators were made in Telford, in Montgomery County, by a German company, and convinced a real American medical equipment company to sell the ventilators to the state of New York, officials said.

More than $30 million was wired from the state government to Obasi, officials said. He attempted to perpetrate the same scheme on hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

In June 2020, Obasi expanded his scheme and used stolen identities of American citizens to obtain more than $1350,000 in EID loans, according to federal officials.

This came years before a spam email campaign headed by Obasi in Sept. 2018 which offered fake work from home jobs, authorities said. When a victim responded to the job offer, Obasi had them deposit counterfeit checks, take a commission, and wired the rest of the money to a foreign bank account, authorities said. More than $1 million was stolen in this fashion.

In addition to the 621 year prison sentence and five years of probation, Obasi also faces a $5.7 million fine and $31 million in restitution.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact the Philadelphia FBI Field Office at 215-418-4000.