United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced the
extradition of Abiola Kayode, 37, of Nigeria, to the District of Nebraska on a
Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud Indictment, filed in August 2019 in Omaha,
Nebraska.
In April 2023, law enforcement authorities in the
Republic of Ghana arrested Kayode pursuant to a U.S. request for his
extradition. Ghanaian authorities ultimately granted this request and
surrendered Kayode to FBI special agents who brought him to the District
of Nebraska. Kayode had an initial appearance on the Indictment on
December 11, 2024. United States Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson ordered
Kayode remain detained pending trial.
Kayode, who was on the FBI’s Most Wanted Cyber
Criminal List, is alleged to have participated in a business email compromise
(BEC) scheme from January 2015 to September 2016. The BEC scheme defrauded
businesses in the District of Nebraska and elsewhere of more than $6
million.
According to the indictment, Kayode’s co-conspirators
posed as the chief executive officer, president, owner, or other executive of
the targeted company. Using e-mail accounts spoofed to make it appear as though
they were from the company’s true business executive, Kayode’s co-conspirators
directed business employees or recipients of the e-mail to complete wire
transfers. The business employees, believing the requests were legitimate,
complied with the wire transfer requests and wired the money as instructed by
Kayode’s co-conspirators.
It is alleged Kayode provided bank account information
to the co-conspirators who sent the fraudulent e-mails, and which directed
business employees to wire money to accounts controlled by Kayode and others.
These bank accounts largely belonged to victims of internet romance scams, who
were instructed by co-conspirators to transfer the funds to other bank
accounts.
Some of Kayode’s co-conspirators have already been
convicted and sentenced. Adewale Aniyeloye, one of the fraudsters sending the
spoofed e-mails to the target business, was sentenced in February 2019 to 96
months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,570,938.05 in restitution. Pelumi
Fawehinimi, a bank account facilitator, was sentenced in March 2019 to 72
months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,014,159.60 in restitution.
Onome Ijomone, a romance scammer, was sentenced in
January 2020 to 60 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $508,934.40 in
restitution after his successful extradition from Poland. Other co-conspirators
remain at large. Alex Ogunshakin, a co-conspirator who provided bank accounts
for the scheme, was sentenced to 45 months’ imprisonment in October 2024 after
his successful extradition from Nigeria.
“Four years ago, we identified six Nigerian nationals
suspected of defrauding individual victims and businesses in Nebraska and other
states of millions of dollars,” said FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene
Kowel. “Today, Abiola Kayode is the second of those co-conspirators to be
extradited to stand trial in Nebraska. Our message to the remaining four
co-conspirators; we are coming for you. Dismantling cyber-criminal groups that
victimize U.S. citizens is a priority for the FBI, DOJ, and our international
law enforcement partners. The FBI, working together with our partners in Ghana,
particularly the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the
Ghana Police Service – INTERPOL, and the Ghana Immigration Service, will
continue to pursue and bring to justice criminals who engage in Business Email
Compromise and other fraud schemes.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. The Department of Justice’s Office of International
Affairs provided significant assistance in securing Kayode’s extradition.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court
of law.
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