A United States (US) court on Friday, September 18, sentenced Joseph Nantomah, aka “The Black Mentor”, to four years in prison for his role in a $2.7 million investment fraud.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Nantomah to pay $2,762,798.37 in restitution to his victims.
He will also serve three years of supervised release after his prison term and faces possible deportation upon completion of his sentence.
According to a statement by the US Department of Justice on Monday, September 21, the 49-year-old Nigerian, who entered the US on a visitor’s visa in 2016, targeted mostly Nigerian immigrants, defrauding at least 39 victims of $2,762,798.37.
Nantomah’s public profile states that he was born on December 31, 1976, in Borokiri, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, and founded a project management training programme in Lagos, where he trained more than 3,000 bankers from various institutions across Nigeria.
After entering the US, Nantomah cultivated a false online persona in which he claimed to have built a multimillion-dollar real estate enterprise.
The Department of Justice said Nantomah adopted the moniker “The Black Mentor” and hosted conferences and classes where he purported to teach people how to achieve success in the US.
According to the department, he used the classes to convince participants to pay for his programmes and subsequently invest in his purported real estate business.
Nantomah’s online presence, “Wealth Flow” conferences and claims of having built a successful real estate business were all part of the scheme.
Between May 2020 and December 2024, Nantomah stole $2,762,798.37 from at least 39 victims.
Nantomah posed as a real estate investor and targeted mostly Nigerian immigrants and members of his church.
The department said he exploited their shared cultural heritage and belief in the American dream to convince them to send him millions of dollars, which he claimed he would invest in real estate in exchange for significant returns.
However, according to the department, Nantomah had no legitimate business or real estate expertise.
Nantomah spent most of the money obtained from his victims on a lavish lifestyle, including private jets, luxury cars, expensive jewellery and a yacht.
He also spent significant amounts of the funds on maintaining his false online persona, including purchasing an honorary doctorate for himself and his wife and paying celebrities to attend his conferences.
At his sentencing hearing, Judge Lynn Adelman said Nantomah’s scheme warranted a significant period of incarceration because it lasted for a long time, caused substantial financial losses and had a significant impact on numerous victims.
Comments