A U.S. court on Friday sentenced a Nigerian professor, Emmanuel Olugbaike Finnih, to six and half years in prison “for orchestrating a years-long scheme involving fraudulent student financial aid applications and the misuse of victims’ identities.”

Mr Finnih, a 43-year-old Nigerian who has naturalised, was also formerly an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University. He pleaded guilty March 20 to theft of government funds, fraud, unlawful use or transfer of identity documents, and aggravated identity theft.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered Mr Finnih to serve 78 months, an equivalent of six years, five months, in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release, the Department of Justice announced in a statement on Friday. 

The Nigerian professor now risks being denaturalised and deported upon serving his jail term.

“The court heard how Finnih used false identities, transcripts, UPS boxes, and bank accounts to carry out the scheme, leaving victims with student loan debt that damaged their credit and hindered legitimate school enrollment,” the Department of Justice said.

The U.S. Department of Justice investigations discovered that Mr Finnih for five years used several stolen identities to submit “fraudulent aid applications seeking over $1.3 million in grants and loans, of which $921,189.08 was disbursed.

“For approximately five years, Mr Finnih submitted more than 100 fraudulent financial aid applications to the Department of Education using the identities of numerous straw students at colleges and universities across Texas.

Mr “Finnih then obtained financial aid refunds through electronic transfers, checks, and prepaid debit cards sent to addresses or bank accounts he controlled.” 

According to the DoJ, Mr Finnih used other individuals’ personal identifying information to prepare, submit, and sign fraudulent financial aid applications and master promissory notes in their names. 

He also used mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email accounts he controlled to receive communications from the Department of Education and the schools. 

Mr Finnih’s fraudulent schemes, left some victims with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans fraudulently placed in their names, significantly affecting their credit.  

The U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz said, “This fraudster will now suffer the consequences of his manipulative, deceitful, un-American crimes.

“Higher education costs are already skyrocketing out of control, and it’s scammers like Finnih who make it worse, more expensive, and financially damaging for everyone.”

Mr Finnih’s case adds to that another Nigerian professors jailed for involvement in fraud in the United States of America. Professor Nkechy Ezeh was sentenced in May to 70 months in federal prison for orchestrating a fraud scheme that stole $1.4 million in taxpayer and donor money intended for vulnerable preschool children.