US authorities have found American-Nigerian citizen Oluwaseun Adelekan and Nigerian citizen Temitope Omotayo guilty of wire fraud, ML and aggravated identity theft.
Around July 2016, Adelekan, Omotayo and co-conspirators started their scheme to impersonate trusted advisers and business partners of victim individuals and businesses. Through these deceptive representations, they convinced the victims to send millions of dollars to their ‘business’ bank accounts. Adelekan and Omotayo then aided the quick transfer of these illicitly obtained funds to different bank accounts in China, Nigeria and elsewhere. They also created fake invoices and contracts on behalf of their victims to convince banks of the legitimacy of the large transactions occurring into their accounts. The victims of this scheme lost more than $6 million.
Sentencing in this case will happen on January 27, 2022. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit wire fraud is a 20-year jail sentence. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit ML is also a 20-year jail sentence. Finally, the convicts will have to spend an additional 2 years in jail for aggravated identity theft.
Source: US Department of Justice