James Ibori pleaded guilty in a London court in February to fraud and money-laundering. He was accused of stealing $250 million from the public purse and funneling much of the stolen funds to banks in England to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets and armored Land Rovers.
Ibori was sentenced Tuesday at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
Ibori’s guilty pleas capped an inquiry which began in association with Nigerian anti-corruption investigators in 2005. He was immune from prosecution in Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 when he was serving as governor of Delta state.
Prosecutors say Ibori is 49 years old, but according to the birth date he used in Nigeria he is 53.