A Nigerian national, Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, has been sentenced to more than eight years in a U.S. prison for his role in an international fraud network that defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans through false inheritance claims.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, 41-year-old Akhimie was sentenced on September 11 to 97 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges connected to the scheme.

Court records show that Akhimie and his co-conspirators defrauded over $6 million from more than 400 victims across the United States, many of them elderly or otherwise vulnerable.

Prosecutors said the group sent letters to victims purporting to be from a bank in Spain, claiming the recipients were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased relatives overseas. Victims were instructed to send payments for delivery fees, taxes, and other charges to secure the fictitious inheritance. Instead, the money was routed through a network of U.S.-based former victims, who were manipulated into forwarding funds to the fraudsters or their associates. No victim ever received inheritance payments.

“Schemes like this steal not only money but dignity from our seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones. “Our Office stands with victims, ensures their voices are heard, and will relentlessly pursue those who prey on them.”

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said the case demonstrated the importance of international partnerships in addressing transnational fraud.

“The Justice Department will continue to pursue, prosecute, and bring to justice transnational criminals responsible for defrauding U.S. consumers, wherever they are located,” he said, acknowledging support from Europol and agencies in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal.

Akhimie is the eighth defendant sentenced in connection with the scheme. In April, District Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Okezie Bonaventure Ogbata, who was extradited from Portugal, to 97 months in prison.

Judge Altman described Ogbata’s conduct as “an incredibly serious crime” that required a substantial sentence “to stand up for the most vulnerable, for the least protected members of our society.”