Aliyu, who was arrested and extradited from South Africa to the United States, is the last of three defendants to plead guilty to his role in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the sentence in a statement on Saturday, March 21, 2026.
In addition to his jail term, the court ordered him to forfeit $1.2 million and pay $2.4 million in restitution to victims affected by the fraud.
ICE further disclosed that Aliyu will be deported from the United State upon completion of his prison sentence.
“James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian national, will serve a 90-month sentence for his role in a wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy after planning to hack business email servers,” the statement read.
“Aliyu was extradited from South Africa to face justice.
“He was slapped with a $1.2M forfeiture order and a $2.4M restitution order and will be removed from the United States when he completes his sentence.
“ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents in Maryland and South Africa offices were proud to be part of the international team that investigated this case.”
LIB reported that Aliyu, who was residing in South Africa at the time of his criminal conduct, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Eight other defendants previously pleaded guilty in the District of Maryland in separate cases related to the same conspiracy.
On June 24, 2019, a federal grand jury returned an indictment, charging Aliyu, Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo, 30, and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu, 31, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
All three are Nigerian citizens who resided in South Africa at the time of the crimes.
Federal authorities unsealed the indictment on July 6, 2022, upon the defendants’ arrests outside of the U.S.
All three were extradited to the United States from outside the country to face their federal charges.
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