CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal appeals court has affirmed the conviction and prison sentence of Kaodichimma Okechukwu Anyanwu, a New York man involved in laundering money stolen from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through an email fraud scheme.
On Thursday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Anyanwu’s 33-month sentence for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Anyanwu, 55, was convicted in 2023 after prosecutors showed he helped move nearly $68,000 of more than $660,000 stolen from the university.
The fraud originated in 2020 when members of a criminal network carried out a business email compromise (BEC) scam. A university employee was deceived into wiring payments meant for a construction contractor to bank accounts controlled by the group.
Court records indicate Anyanwu opened a bank account using an alias and transferred the stolen funds through multiple transactions to conceal their source. Prosecutors argued the complex movement of money demonstrated intentional efforts to hide the crime.
Anyanwu appealed his conviction, claiming insufficient evidence of intent and errors in jury instructions and sentencing enhancements. The appeals court rejected these arguments, ruling that the evidence clearly showed his knowing participation and use of sophisticated laundering techniques.
Judges also upheld sentence enhancements tied to the intended financial loss and the layered structure of the scheme, which relied on shell accounts. Federal officials continue to warn that BEC scams pose a growing risk to universities and other organizations.
