BISMARCK — Nigerian citizen Christopher Agbaje was sentenced to serve 11 years and 10 months in federal prison for defrauding a North Dakota law firm, U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider announced on Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor sentenced Abgaje after a federal jury found him guilty on May 16 of money laundering, aiding and abetting wife fraud and aiding and abetting mail fraud, following a four day trial. Agbaje was extradited from the United Kingdom to North Dakota to face the charges.

“This strong sentence shows that international fraudsters cannot hide from justice,” Schneider said. “When North Dakotans are the victims of fraud, our prosecutors and law enforcement partners will work internationally to hold defendants accountable in a federal courtroom in Bismarck or Fargo.”

According to information introduced at the trial, between November and December 2020, Agbaje participated with others in a sophisticated scheme to defraud a North Dakota law firm out of $198,336.68. The participants of the scheme falsely purported to be a business owner in a legal dispute with a Bismarck company and entered into a fictitious attorney-client relationship with this law firm.

The law firm received a parcel containing a fraudulent Citibank check payable to the law firm in the amount of $198,859 and deposited this check in the law firm’s bank account. Subsequently, at the purported business owner’s request, the law firm sent a $198,336.68 wire transfer to Agbaje’s business partner.

A short time later, Agbaje directed his business partner to fraudulently initiate a $180,000 international wire transfer with the intent to conceal the location, ownership and control of the law firm’s money. When Agbaje became aware law enforcement was conducting a fraud investigation in connection with the wire transfer he and his business partner had received, Agbaje instructed his business partner to “press on,” gain “leverage,” and claim “naivety.”