US prosecutors accuse Francis Mogambi of using stolen identities to obtain education funding and sharing proceeds with associates in Kenya.
Kenyan national Francis Mogambi faces 10 federal charges in the United States over alleged student aid fraud. Prosecutors accuse him of using stolen American identities to obtain government education funding and sharing proceeds with associates in Kenya.
A federal grand jury in Nebraska returned the indictment on October 19, the US Department of Justice said. It contains five counts of theft of government money and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
The indictment lists an intended loss of $20,000 in Mogambi’s case. Meanwhile, an earlier police investigation alleged that he cashed cheques worth about $20,397, or Sh2.56 million.
Mogambi remains in custody pending trial after the court found he posed a flight risk and public safety threat. The charges remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
How the alleged student aid fraud worked
Prosecutors allege that Mogambi and associates in Kenya obtained personal information belonging to unsuspecting Americans. They then allegedly used those identities to enrol people in educational institutions and redirect federal aid payments.
According to prosecutors, Mogambi kept 30 per cent of the proceeds and transferred the balance to associates in Kenya. Court documents also allege that he offered another person $2,000, about Sh259,000, a week to join the operation.
The federal case follows an earlier investigation by Lincoln police into suspected fraud at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Union. In that case, Mogambi also faced a separate second-degree forgery charge.
Investigators alleged that he received cheques in the names of people fraudulently enrolled in online colleges. He then allegedly endorsed the cheques to himself and deposited them into his bank accounts.
Some victims only discovered the alleged fraud when unfamiliar loans appeared on their credit records. One Wisconsin resident told investigators he had never enrolled at Colorado Technical University.
Wider investigation targets fictitious students
Mogambi’s prosecution forms part of Operation Ghostbusters, a broader US investigation into alleged education funding fraud. The operation targets networks accused of using stolen identities to create fictitious college students.
The Justice Department said investigators identified 830,840 potentially fraudulent Federal Student Aid IDs associated with nearly $130 million. Authorities therefore recommended that the Department of Education disable the accounts while investigations continued.
Investigators also seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency from an account belonging to a Kenyan national linked to the wider network. Authorities believe the broader fraud dates back to at least 2021, with potential losses exceeding $200 million.
The FBI, the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General and several US Attorney’s Offices are pursuing the operation. Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald warned that authorities would pursue suspects both in America and abroad.
