A fraud case involving stolen identities and $130 million in fake US student aid claims has pulled Kenya into an American courtroom drama that is still unfolding.
Federal prosecutors say the scheme worked by using real people's personal information to enroll ghost students at US colleges and universities, then pocket the financial aid those fake enrollments generated. Kenyans are among the individuals named in the charges, placing the country at the center of what authorities describe as one of the larger student aid fraud operations they have pursued.
The case raises uncomfortable questions about how personal data moves across borders and who ends up holding the consequences when it lands in the wrong hands. For the Kenyans caught up in the charges, the distance between Nairobi and a US federal court is now very short indeed.
Originally published by BBC Africa.