Neda Bernards Imasuen, now a Nigerian senator, was involved in a $25 million bank fraud scheme in the U.S. before leaving for Nigeria, where he later built a political career. Today, he heads the Senate Ethics Committee, according to an exclusive report by Peoples Gazette.
Before returning to Nigeria in 2010, Imasuen worked as a lawyer in New York but lost his license due to financial misconduct and ignoring court orders. U.S. court records show he was named in a federal case as a key player in a mortgage fraud operation that targeted 33 banks, including Citi Bank, HSBC, and Wells Fargo. The FBI identified him as the lawyer who helped carry out the fraudulent deals, working with a partner named Imran Ismile Badoolah.
While Badoolah was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to repay the stolen money in 2017, Imasuen was labeled an “unindicted co-conspirator.” Records suggest he left the U.S. and returned to Nigeria around the time federal investigators began looking into the case.
Even after losing his license to practice law in the U.S., Imasuen continued working as a lawyer in Nigeria, advising on projects funded by the World Bank and the European Union. In 2023, he was elected as a senator under the Labour Party and later became the head of the Senate Ethics Committee. In this role, he recently led the controversial decision to suspend Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a move many called unconstitutional.
Imasuen’s story is part of a growing trend of Nigerian officials with questionable pasts. For example, President Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, was also disbarred in the U.S. for financial misconduct.
