A champagne-guzzling conman nicknamed “Fizzy” who tricked vulnerable pensioners out of millions while living it up in the West End has been forced to sell his house to pay them compensation.
Frank Onyeachonam, 39, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud in June 2014 and jailed for eight years.
Now, after a financial investigation by organised crime busters the National Crime Agency (NCA), he has been ordered to hand over all his assets – £158,149 – in compensation.
He will have to sell a house in Nigeria to raise the cash, the NCA said.
At the Old Bailey, Judge Poulet found Onyeachonam – who lived in luxury in a flat overlooking the Thames – had benefited by more than £1.1 million from his scam.
He wrote to his elderly victims, whose details he found on a “suckers list” traded between criminals, telling them they had won lotteries including the Euromillions and inviting them to call a “lottery agent” – in fact Onyeachonam himself.
He conned the cash out of his trusting victims by telling them they had to pay fees and taxes before they could receive their “winnings” – of which they never saw a penny.
He even encouraged some to set up businesses that he could then use to launder the cash, resulting in some victims themselves being investigated by law enforcement officials.
If Onyeachonam, nicknamed “Fizzy” because of his decadent champagne-soaked lifestyle, fails to cough up the cash within 12 months he will have three years added to his jail term.
Pictures found on his phone after his conviction showed a toy Buzz Lightyear holding wads of cash, while another showed the word “Fizzy” spelt out in banknotes.
Garry Crone from the NCA said: “Onyeachonam previously enjoyed a lifestyle of champagne, designer clothes and fast cars.
“Should any additional assets derived from Onyeachonam’s criminality be identified, the NCA will seek to have them confiscated.”
The Met – alongside the US Postal Service, IRS and FBI in the States, and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission – worked with the NCA on Fizzy’s prosecution.