Kenyan to serve three years in US jail for fraud

By BMJ Muriithi

A Kenyan was jailed for three years in the US for defrauding nuns and religious groups of more than $1 million (Sh76 million).

Edward Bosire, 40, appeared before US District judge Charles Clevert in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday.

The charge stated that Bosire, together with his wife Angelina Martin-Mulu, who was sentenced to three and a half years earlier in the month, swindled nuns and religious groups in Wisconsin while masquerading as political refugees from Kenya.

Assistant US Attorney Gordon Giampietro told the court the two swindled their victims by falsely claiming to be suffering from malaria and tuberculosis and in need of money to pay medical expenses.

He said through the scam, the defendants made enough money and bought two apartments in Chicago and Bolingbrook, Illinois.

"They lived lavishly and spent the rest of the money at casinos," he told an attentive courtroom.

Among the couple’s victims were nuns at the Pewaukee Monastery in Milwaukee, who gave the defendants more than $800,000 (Sh60.8 million).

Grand jury

Last March, acting US Attorney Michelle Jacobs announced a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin had returned a three-count indictment.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) charged the defendants based on a year-long investigation. Bosire and his wife are Kenyans who arrived in the US in 1999 and were given political asylum in 2007.

Mid last year, the two pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to pay close to $1 million in restitution.

And in mitigation, Bosire’s attorney Joshua Uller told the court on Friday that although his client had pleaded guilty, he only played a minor role in the fraud, as his wife was the mastermind.

According to court records, the couple had met and married in Kenya before coming to the US in 1999.

Documents presented in court indicated the wife had sought asylum in the US due to what she termed as the "fear of female genital mutilation" in Kenya.

Before giving his verdict, Judge Clevert said it was unfortunate Bosire and his wife had falsely presented themselves to unsuspecting victims as siblings who had fled political oppression in Africa.

The two are likely to face deportation after serving their sentences.