Nigerian jailed 6 years in US for $6m bribery scam

A Nigerian based in the United States of America (USA), Ifeanyi Ozoh, has been sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in a $6m bribery scam.

This was disclosed in a statement by US Attorney Alamdar Hamdani, published on the US Department of Justice website on Wednesday.

He noted that the scam scheme had been aimed at defrauding a US insurance company, Medicaid, through kickbacks.

Ozoh was also ordered to pay a sum of $4.9m as restitution to the insurance company with a three-year post-release supervision.

The 54-year-old was sentenced following his conviction for conspiring to pay bribes to bring patients who were registered under the Medicaid insurance to a non-existent clinic in the guise of receiving treatment which was used to receive claims from the insurance company.

The statement reads in part, “A 54-year-old man has been sentenced following his conviction for conspiring to pay and receive health care kickbacks and payment of kickbacks to marketers, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

“A federal jury deliberated for an hour following a three-day trial before finding Ifeanyi Ozoh guilty on all counts February 14.

“The US District Chief Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Ozoh to serve 72 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. Ozoh was also ordered to pay restitution to Medicaid for $4.9 million.

“At the hearing, the court heard Ozoh was integral to the kickback scheme as he bribed marketers and parents to bring their Medicaid-insured children to a sham dental clinic.”