US Federal prosecutors said an
Atlanta, Georgia-based Nigerian, Olufolajimi Abegunde has been sentenced to
more than six years in prison for his role in an internet fraud scheme that
stole an estimated $15m through computer and wire fraud.
The U.S. attorney’s office in
Memphis, Tennessee, said on Thursday that the 32-year-old Abegunde was
sentenced Tuesday for wire fraud, the second Nigerian to be sentenced in less
than a week. Last week in Missouri, another Nigerian, Segun Prosper Otaru was
also jailed for cyber fraud.
After his arrest last year,
Abegunde lied to Nigerian officials that his arrest was based on mistaken
identity and asked for help to get him out of the FBI jaws.
But court documents showed
otherwise.
The scams caused about $15 million
in losses for victims.
Abegunde’s role was that he
helped launder money through a compromised business email of a land title
company located in Bellingham, Washington, and a real estate company in
Memphis, Tennessee.
The case against Abegunde by US Department
of Justice:
A citizen of Nigeria residing in
Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to 78 months in prison yesterday for his role
in an international cyber fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General
Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S.
Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee.
Olufolajimi Abegunde, 32, was
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sheryl L. Lipman of the Western District of
Tennessee who also ordered Abegunde to pay $57,911.62 in restitution to the
victims of his offense. Abegunde and Javier Luis Ramos-Alonso, 29, were convicted
in March after a seven-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Tennessee. Ramos-Alonso previously received a 31-month sentence for
his role in the scheme.
Abegunde and Ramos-Alonso
participated in a criminal organization in which members “spoofed” emails and
created fake profiles on dating websites in order to fool victims into sending
money to bogus bank accounts under the control of members of the conspiracy.
The proceeds would be laundered and subsequently wired out of the United States
to destinations including West Africa. The organization as a whole is believed
to have caused more than $10,000,000 in damage to U.S. citizens and businesses.
The evidence presented at trial
showed that Abegunde, who received an MBA from Texas A&M University in
College Station, Texas, engaged in black-market currency exchanges over the
life of the conspiracy. Purporting to hold himself out as a legitimate
businessman, Abegunde claimed association with a business entity that was not yet
operational in late 2017, so for his primary source of income he relied on his
off-the-book currency exchanges. Through this network, Abegeunde played a key
role, along with Ramos-Alonso, in laundering fraud funds from an Oct. 3, 2016,
business email compromise (BEC) of a land title company located in Bellingham,
Washington. The proceeds of another BEC perpetrated in July 2016 upon a real
estate company in Memphis, Tennessee, also moved through parts of the same
criminal organization.
Abegunde, who faced numerous
account closures from banks in the United States, used a complicated network of
third-party bank accounts to disguise his illicit activity. The proof at trial
established that Abegunde told people that he could not receive payments into
accounts that could be “tracked,” and that he preferred to engage in cash
transactions because they were easier to clean and “eliminated the risk.”
In addition to his financial
activities, Abegunde also engaged in a conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
Abegunde was married during his studies at Texas A&M, but divorced his wife
in 2016 to marry a U.S. service member through whom he could obtain immigration
and health care benefits and also open new bank accounts. He continued to live
with his first wife in Atlanta while his U.S. service member wife was deployed
to South Korea. While incarcerated and awaiting trial in the Western District
of Tennessee, Abegunde continued his conspiratorial activities, trying to
convince his fake spouse, who has since filed for divorce, to refuse to testify
against him. Abegunde also engaged in witness tampering by sending a
self-written Motion to Dismiss bearing his former attorney’s name and
professional attestation. The evidence at trial established that Abegunde
drafted and sent the motion, which his attorney expressly did not authorize, to
his faux spouse in an effort to deceive her into not testifying against him.
Five other individuals have
pleaded guilty to being involved in the scheme. Additionally, several foreign
nationals are awaiting extradition to the United States to face trial. Others
are still at large.
Accomplices of Abegunde:
Alexander Duimont
Andrew “Andy” Jackson
Ayodeji Olumide Ojo
Babatunde Martins
Benard Okorhi
Brianna Lee
Brianna Morrison
Carolina Nkomo
Christian Hinds
Dana Brady
Daniel Elya
Daniel Roberts
Dennis Miah
Dr. Dennis Brown
James Dean
James “Jim” Roy
James Yorke
Javier Luis Ramos Alonso
Joey Hammond
Jon Bunyan
Marc Richards
Maxwell Peter
Olufolajimi (FJ) Abegunde
Peter Maxwell
Rob Phantom
Sandra Lin
Sherry Jupiter Martinez
Sual Derrell
Sumaila Hardi Wumpini
Tammy Dollan
Tammy Henry
Victor Daniel Fortune Okorhi
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