SEC Charges Three Individuals with Impersonating Financial Professionals in Fraud Scheme Targeting Retail Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Chibuzo Augustine Onyeachonam, Stanley Chidubem Asiegbu, and Chukwuebuka Martin Nweke-Eze with fraud for impersonating legitimate securities brokers and investment advisers in an elaborate online scheme through which the defendants stole more than $2.9 million from at least 28 investors. As alleged in the SEC’s complaint, from at least 2019 to the present, the three defendants, who reside in Nigeria, created websites impersonating nearly two dozen actual securities brokers and investment adviser representatives (collectively, representatives) at well-known U.S. securities firms as part of a fraudulent scheme to entice potential investors in the United States to invest funds with the defendants.