A United States federal court has sentenced Nigerian national James Junior Aliyu to 90 months in prison for his role in a sophisticated wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy built around business email compromise schemes.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Aliyu was extradited from South Africa to face charges after investigators linked him to an international network that hacked or hijacked business email accounts to divert corporate payments. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered a forfeiture of 1.2 million dollars and restitution of 2.4 million dollars to victims. Aliyu will be removed from the United States after completing his sentence.

U.S. court records show that Aliyu, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was the last of three defendants to enter a guilty plea in the case, while eight other conspirators had previously pleaded guilty in related prosecutions in the District of Maryland.

Prosecutors said that between February and July 2017, Aliyu and his co-conspirators carried out a business email compromise scheme that targeted companies and individuals by infiltrating or spoofing legitimate email accounts. Once inside, they sent fraudulent wiring instructions that appeared to come from trusted business partners, tricking victims into sending large payments to bank accounts controlled by the syndicate.

The group then moved quickly to launder the proceeds, dispersing funds through so-called drop accounts, cash withdrawals, account-to-account transfers, cashier’s checks and other instruments designed to obscure the origin and ownership of the money.

The U.S. Department of Justice reported that the intended loss tied to transactions in which Aliyu was directly involved exceeded 4.16 million dollars, with actual losses of at least 1.57 million dollars. Investigators determined that Aliyu personally controlled about 1.19 million dollars of the stolen funds.

Under the plea agreement, Aliyu must pay a money judgment of at least 1.19 million dollars and restitution in the full amount of victims’ losses, which both sides agreed was at least 2.38 million dollars.

U.S. authorities highlighted the case as an example of growing international cooperation against cyber-enabled financial crime, crediting Homeland Security Investigations offices in Maryland and South Africa, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and multiple South African justice and law enforcement agencies for their roles in securing Aliyu’s arrest and extradition.