Four US residents were charged with laundering money in various fraudulent schemes during the pandemic and then purchased a car that was shipped to Nigeria.
A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico yesterday returned a substitute indictment naming Oluwaseun Adelekan, 40, and Temitope Omotayo, 40, of Staten Island, New York. Mrs. Black, 37, lives in Austin, Texas. Temitope Suleiman, 37, and Olwasegun Baiyew, 37, live in Richmond, Texas.
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All of them have been charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money through wire, mail, and access device fraud schemes, while Bai Yew was indicted in October 2021.
The indictment alleges that the four conspired to launder money stemming from romance fraud, pandemic relief unemployment insurance fraud, and business email compromise (BEC).
The BEC attack allegedly affected businesses in Puerto Rico and Missouri, while other scams defrauded particularly elderly and vulnerable victims in California, Illinois, Washington and Nevada, the Justice Department said. claimed.
After receiving the proceeds of these crimes, the defendants or their co-conspirators executed hundreds of transactions, including cash checks and money orders, which were used to purchase used vehicles and transport them to Nigeria.
“Scams that target seniors are reprehensible. Money laundering networks like the one alleged in this case allow scammers to profit from illegal schemes,” said the Department of Justice Civil Affairs Division. said Chief Deputy Attorney Brian Boynton, head of the
“The Department is fully committed to pursuing investigations and prosecutions of those who victimize the elderly and other vulnerable members of our community.”
Oluwasegun Baiyew was arrested as part of a raid on the global BEC gang that allegedly targeted hundreds of organizations. He is believed to have been involved in an attack on a Puerto Rico-based renewable energy supplier and a 4.5 million BEC money laundering conspiracy, likely part of the above charges.
