A Tennessee man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for his role in diverting more than $1.5 million in payments from a California county, according to court and local reports.
Jafaar September Nyangoro, 53, of Franklin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston sentenced him to three years and 10 months in prison and ordered him to pay $1.178 million in restitution.
Hijacked Nonprofit Email
Nyangoro and others secretly took over the email account of the finance director at Turning Point of Central California, a Fresno nonprofit. Posing as the director, they told Fresno County that the nonprofit’s bank details had changed and that payments should be sent to an account Nyangoro had recently opened at a different bank.
Between September 24 and October 13, 2020, the county sent several electronic transfers totaling more than $1.5 million to that account. Regions Bank reversed some of the transfers over suspected fraud.
Nyangoro later messaged co-conspirators on WhatsApp about the reversals, referring to the last three transactions from the County of Fresno and asking to be called.
Recovery and Investigation
A county spokesperson said Fresno County recovered about $112,000, while insurance covered roughly $875,000. The FBI investigated the case.
