In New York, a British-Nigerian national has entered a guilty plea to charges of participating in a scam that spanned over seven years and involved hacking into the computer servers of financial institutions and brokerages, resulting in losses for consumers totaling over six million dollars.
During a hearing in Brooklyn before United States District Judge Pamela Chen, Idris Dayo Mustapha, who is 33, entered a guilty plea to the charges of access device fraud, conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
It was in August 2021 when Mustapha, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, was taken into custody in the United Kingdom. He was then deported to the United States of America in September.
At his scheduled sentencing on April 3, 2024, he faces a maximum sentence of twenty years in jail; nevertheless, it is quite probable that he will receive a far shorter sentence.
Obtaining a statement from a lawyer representing Mustapha was not immediately possible.
Between January 2011 and March 2018, Mustapha and his associated individuals were accused of using phishing and other methods to acquire user names and passwords and gain access to internet accounts.
According to the prosecution, the conspirators moved the money and assets belonging to the victims to their accounts. Additionally, they performed unlawful stock trades in accounts that had been hacked while at the same time making lucrative trades in the same stocks in their separate accounts.
Mustapha is the defendant in this action, which is being heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York under case number 23-cr-00440.
