Emmanuel Nwude

Emmanuel Nwude Odinigwe is a Nigerian businessman known for defrauding a Brazilian bank of US$242 million to build a fictitious airport. Nwude formerly served as Director of Union Bank of Nigeria. He defrauded Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil's Banco Noroeste based in São Paulo, of $242 million: $191 million in cash and the remainder in the form of outstanding interest, between 1995 and 1998. His accomplices were Emmanuel Ofolue, Nzeribe Okoli, and Obum Osakwe, along with the husband and wife duo, Christian Ikechukwu Anajemba and Amaka Anajemba, with Christian later being assassinated. After Nick Leeson's trading losses at Barings Bank, and the looting of the Iraqi Central Bank by Qusay Hussein, Nwude's crime was the third largest in banking history. After a large-scale attack on a town in Nigeria in August 2016, Nwude was alleged to be a ringleader and was arrested on murder charges. He was later released.