After an attorney or law firm agreed to represent the sham client, the conspirators sent bank checks through the mail. The conspirators then instructed the law firms to deposit the money into the respective Interest On Lawyer Trust Accounts.
The conspirators then instructed the attorneys to wire the money to Asian bank accounts. However, before the counterfeit checks were returned as fraudulent, the money had already been withdrawn by the co-conspirators in Asia.
Shortly thereafter, the illicit funds were distributed to the conspirators’ bank accounts in Nigeria and Canada.
In the end, the federal judge ordered Okpalefe to pay $23 million in restitution to the victims and forfeit $504,787.
