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One of the 80 American-based Nigerians arrested last month by the United States authorities for Internet fraud, Ifeanyi Agwuegbo, has been granted bail.
Recall that the American anti-graft agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), penultimate week, arrested about 80 Nigerians based in the United States over allegation of cyber crime.
Mr. Agwuegbo, named as one of the main suspects in a vast business email fraud busted by the FBI appeared in a Texas court on August 27.
The American Magistrate, who heard Mr. Agwuegbo’s preliminary bail application at the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Peter Bray, released the suspect on a bond of $75,000 (N27.2 million).
PREMIUM TIMES reports that the suspect was also asked to provide at least $5,000 deposit and one surety whose signature must be obtained before the defendant could be released. He was remanded in custody because he did not immediately meet the conditions.
He was among the 77 Nigerians indicted by the FBI in a televised announcement on August 22. Several of them have been arrested, while the FBI, in collaboration with the Nigerian authorities, is tracking down others still at large.
The FBI said the operation that exposed Mr. Agwuegbo and his alleged conspirators was coordinated among several state and federal law enforcement units in the US.
Mr. Agwuegbo was allegedly involved in business of e-mail compromise, although he was also nailed for conducting romance scams among others.
Several arrests were carried out between early and late August in California and other American states. Mr. Agwuegbo was subsequently charged in Texas on three counts of conspiracy to commit money-laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft
