A federal jury in Puerto Rico has convicted a Nigerian, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, for conspiracy to launder funds tied to multiple large-scale fraud schemes, including romance scams, pandemic relief fraud, and business email compromise attacks.
The U.S. Department of Justice, in a statement released Tuesday, confirmed that Baiyewu, 37, of Richmond, Texas, was found guilty after a 22-day trial in San Juan.
Prosecutors said Baiyewu and four others — Oluwaseun Adelekan, 40, and Temitope Omotayo, 40, both of Staten Island, New York; Ifeoluwa Dudubo, 37, of Austin, Texas; and Temitope Suleiman, 37, of Richmond, Texas — conspired to launder funds from international organized fraud operations that disproportionately targeted elderly and vulnerable Americans.
The schemes involved wire, mail, and access device fraud, with proceeds routed through multiple accounts to conceal their origin before being disbursed to co-conspirators and foreign accomplices.
“The Department of Justice will continue to identify and prosecute the fraudsters who design complex fraud schemes and the launderers that receive victim proceeds and make sure the crimes are profitable,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A.
Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said, “This conviction is a message to the transnational organized crime groups and their accomplices who take advantage of our open financial system: you cannot victimize Americans with impunity.”
U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico said, “The defendant participated in a money laundering scheme turning illicit gains into a facade of legitimacy, especially those involving seniors or other vulnerable people, and businesses in Puerto Rico and the United States.
“The United States Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners commitment to investigate criminals who steal money sends a clear message: justice will prevail, and those who exploit others for personal gain will be held accountable. We thank all our partners who assisted in this prosecution.”
“The FBI is committed to taking down the key service providers that support cyber scammers and transnational organized crime,” said Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI’s Cyber Division.
“This conviction is a reminder of the durable impact we are having in targeting the entire cybercriminal ecosystem, which is made possible by working in tandem with partners who have unique authorities and capabilities.”
Meanwhile, a superseding indictment against the five defendants alleged that in 2020 and 2021, the defendants worked together to profit from efforts to “clean” money from scams involving victims, many of whom were older adults, in California, Illinois, Washington, and Nevada, and business email compromise schemes affecting victim companies in Puerto Rico and Missouri.
However, after receiving the proceeds, according to the indictment, the defendants or their co-conspirators conducted hundreds of transactions with the funds, among other things, to purchase used cars that were shipped overseas to Nigeria.
The document added that the defendants will be sentenced before the Honorable Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach for the District of Puerto Rico.
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