Nigeria, Sept. 16 -- A U.S. federal court has sentenced Ehis Lawrence Akhimie, a 41-year-old Nigerian national, to 97 months in prison for his role in a transnational inheritance fraud scheme that defrauded more than 400 elderly victims across the United States out of over $6 million.

The sentence was handed down by Kathleen M. Williams, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, after Akhimie pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges.

According to court documents, Akhimie and his co-conspirators operated for several years by:

Sending personalized letters to elderly Americans, falsely claiming to be representatives of a Spain-based bank

Telling victims they were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased r...