URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - A man who helped defraud the University of Illinois will spend years in prison for the crime.Â
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce sentenced 35-year-old Tucker, Ga., man Eric Marcel Mboule to 3 1/2 years in federal prison. Mboule played a role in defrauding the U of I at Urbana-Champaign of over $265,000.Â
Prosecutors said he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to a press release, Mboule, Patrick Guentangue and others executed a fraudulent scheme in 2016 to trick U of I leaders into believing a building contractor doing work at the school changed their banking information before receiving their next scheduled payment.Â
As a result, the U of I wired a contractual payment to an account Guentangue owned under an alias. Prosecutors said Mboule then sent Guentangue messages describing a plan for distributing the money to others involved in the scheme.Â
Guentangue was sentenced in December of 2018 to two years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.Â
Mboule must also serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. He's required to pay $265,193.75 in restitution to the U of I.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was the entity that investigated this scheme. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen represented the government in the prosecution.
