Nigerian tech enthusiast Sapphire Egemasi, known online as 'tech queen' for her polished digital persona and showcased luxurious lifestyle, is now facing a potential prison sentence exceeding two decades in the United States. Arrested around April 10, 2025, in Bronx, New York, by the FBI, Egemasi, a programmer with a Devpost account, was apprehended alongside several co-conspirators, including alleged syndicate leader Samuel Kwadwo Osei. Their arrest stems from a 2024 federal grand jury indictment charging them with multiple counts of internet fraud and money laundering.
The charges relate to a large-scale fraud scheme that targeted various US government agencies between September 2021 and February 2023. Egemasi and her Ghanaian co-defendants are accused of conspiring to defraud the city of Kentucky of millions of dollars. Investigators pinpoint Egemasi's role as the syndicate’s tech lead, responsible for designing spoof websites that impersonated official US government domains. These fake sites were used to steal login credentials and facilitate the transfer of stolen funds. Text message records reveal the syndicate rerouted $965,000 stolen from Kentucky into a PNC Bank account in August 2022, with an additional $330,000 funneled into a Bank of America account around the same time.
Before her arrest, Egemasi was reportedly based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, though authorities believe she previously resided in Ghana, where she likely forged ties with her co-conspirators. To obscure the illicit origins of her wealth, she allegedly claimed to have held numerous internships at major multinational companies like British Petroleum, H&M, and Zara. Her social media profiles, particularly LinkedIn, displayed her skills and lavish vacations to places like Greece and Portugal, which prosecutors assert were funded by the proceeds of her crimes. Egemasi and her co-accused are currently in federal custody, awaiting trial in Lexington, Kentucky. If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison, substantial financial penalties, and eventual deportation to their home countries.
