Nigerian national, Mercy Ojedeji, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison on Monday, December 1, 2025, after admitting he used forged documents to fraudulently obtain a U.S. student visa, admission to the University of Missouri’s chemistry PhD program, and more than $49,000 in stipend and tuition benefits.
U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey handed down the sentence after Ojedeji pleaded guilty in April to unlawful use of fraudulent immigration documents and wire fraud.
Court documents reveal that in 2023, Ojedeji submitted counterfeit academic transcripts, recommendation letters, a résumé, and a fake English-language proficiency report to secure the F-1 student visa and admission to the University of Missouri.
Using those documents, he also obtained a Social Security card, opened bank accounts, rented an apartment, and even secured a Missouri driver’s license in February 2024, months after the university expelled him for never attending classes or joining a research lab, which automatically voided his visa.
Prosecutors say Ojedeji lived with Shirley Waller, his 61-year-old American girlfriend who is currently serving a 93-month sentence for running a money-mule operation that laundered proceeds for romance and pandemic-benefit scammers.
The pair used fraudulently opened bank accounts to forward victims’ money to Nigeria.Investigators seized 17 of the 193 suspicious packages delivered to their shared address; those 17 alone contained $94,150, pushing the intended loss from their combined schemes above $1 million.
Victims described devastating consequences in letters to the judge: one woman lost $47,000 after falling for a romance scam involving a fictitious widowed surgeon in Jordan, while another had her water shut off for a month after sending money to the fraudsters.
“This case shows how fraudsters exploit both the immigration and financial systems to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent people,” said U.S. Attorney officials.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the FBI and Town and Country Police Department.
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