Cisco fake equipment scam lands man in prison for 7 years

Maryland resident Iheanyi Frank Chinasa was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud networking and telecommunications giant Cisco Systems, said the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs on Thursday. The 39-year-old man and his accomplice Robert Kendrick Chambliss were also ordered to pay over $18 million in restitution.

Indicted last August, the two co-conspirators each walked away with drastically different sentences.

Chambliss, 31, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in April.

Chinasa’s harsher sentence comes after a jury found him guilty in February of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of an official proceeding.

Citing court documents and findings, the DoJ said the pair contacted Cisco with complaints about defective products. As per its warranty information, the company agreed to send out replacements so long as the original products were mailed back. The pair agreed, but returned counterfeit hardware built by Chinasa himself in lieu of the official Cisco products. (Via The U.S. Department of Justice)