Two directors of a criminal gang have been jailed for what was described in court as "a worldwide, highly sophisticated money laundering scheme on a breathtaking scale".
Elike Francis Ogbuefi, aged 42, from Clonard Road in Crumlin, Dublin was jailed for nine years while his co-accused 32-year-old Steven Silvester from The Paddocks, Morristown in Newbridge, Co Kildare was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
The men were arrested and charged following a long running investigation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
Both men had denied the charges but were convicted by a jury following a trial last month.
Over €6 million was stolen and laundered in a variety of scams including romance frauds and smishing schemes and moved through a variety of accounts.
The two men were in charge of supplying and monitoring accounts where the stolen money was deposited. They received repeated requests worldwide for accounts to be used for all types of fraud.
The requests came largely from Nigerian phone numbers and details on Ogbuefi's phone, which gardaí managed to access, included the type of jobs required, the amounts going through the accounts and specifications as to the type of accounts required.
Ogbuefi gave instructions that the type of account sought had to be in an Irish name, not an African name, to avoid suspicion.
He was the contact for those outside the country and a nine minute instruction video on how to engage in this activity was also found on his phone.
Photos on his phone showed him overseeing money going in and out of the accounts and controlling or supervising the activity of the organised crime group.
His cut was 20% and he pointed out to another person that "he has been doing this a long time and knows how it operates".
Ogbuefi came to Ireland as a student while Silvester was initially in direct provision before he became transient and moved addresses. Both men are fathers.
Silvester 'just got lazy and stupid'
The court was told that the money laundering operation was highly sophisticated but Silvester "just got lazy and stupid and left the safe open" when he was caught.
Judge Martin Nolan said fraudsters and money launderers need bank accounts to launder stolen money and that both men fulfilled this role.
Both, he said were experienced in how bank systems worked, they were aware of the weaknesses and strengths and they were testing the systems at all times with some failures and some successes.
This criminal behaviour he said was difficult to detect but gardaí had some lucky breaks, pursued all leads, produced a lot of evidence and put credible and compelling evidence before the jury.
He also said that both men had no previous convictions, both were intelligent, reformable and highly regarded by their families.
He jailed Ogbuefi for nine years for directing the criminal gang and money laundering and Silvester who he said was at a slightly lower level, for seven years for the same offences.
