US court jails Nigerian professor over $1.4m fraud

A United States District Court has sentenced Nigerian-born professor and former executive director of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC), Nkechy Ezeh, to 70 months in federal prison for orchestrating a large-scale fraud scheme that diverted $1.4 million meant for low-income preschool children in West Michigan.

Delivering the judgment, Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou issued a strong rebuke of Ezeh’s conduct, describing her as a “fraud and a thief” who engaged in “brazen and widespread” theft of public and donor funds intended for some of the most vulnerable children in the region.

In addition to the custodial sentence, the court ordered Ezeh to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the affected victims, alongside $390,174 to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She was immediately remanded into custody to begin serving her sentence.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Timothy VerHey, condemned the actions as “beyond reprehensible,” stressing that the diverted funds were meant to support disadvantaged children. He noted that the stolen resources could have benefited hundreds of families, adding that the sentence reflected the seriousness of the crime.

Ezeh, once a respected figure in Michigan’s early childhood education sector, was a 2018 West Michigan Woman of the Year, a tenured education professor, and a former member of the State of Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation executive committee.

She founded ELNC, a non-profit organisation funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Education, and private donors to provide essential services such as meals, transportation, and educational support for children in underserved communities.

However, court records revealed that between 2017 and 2023, Ezeh conspired with ELNC’s former bookkeeper, Sharon Killebrew, to siphon millions of dollars from the organisation. The fraudulent activities eventually led to ELNC’s collapse in 2023, resulting in the loss of critical services for thousands of children and the sudden layoff of 35 employees.

Prosecutors further disclosed that Ezeh used the stolen funds to finance a lavish lifestyle, including international trips to Hawaii, Europe, and Africa, as well as a family wedding. Investigators also found that she placed relatives on a ghost payroll and allegedly used intermediaries to transfer large sums of money to family members in Nigeria.

Authorities said the impact of the fraud was severe, particularly on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with many beneficiaries coming from communities where over 70 percent of families lived below the federal poverty line across parts of Kent County, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek.

Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Thomas Ethridge, described the case as a warning against the misuse of federal grant funds, reaffirming continued efforts to protect public programmes from exploitation.

The investigation was jointly carried out by HHS-OIG and IRS Criminal Investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler prosecuting the case.