The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other United States federal agents have arrested 24 individuals, among them Nigerians, for their involvement in a large-scale fraud and money laundering operation that targeted citizens, corporations, and financial institutions throughout the United States.
\nTwo of the Nigerians, Afeez Olaide Adeniran and Blessing Ojo, face a separate charge of wire fraud.
\nThe indictment alleges that Adeniran defrauded a homebuyer of $40,000 intended for a real estate transaction.
\n\u201cThe indictment alleges that due to a computer intrusion and false invoicing scam, Ojo caused a media company in California to send payments totalling $89,140 to a bank account controlled by one of the defendants. In total, the victim sent $646,840, as a result of the fraud\u201d.
\nUsing business email compromise schemes, romance fraud scams, and retirement account scams, among other frauds, the suspects duped numerous victims into losing more than $30million, the Department of Justice, Northern District of Georgia announced, last Friday.
\nThe arrests followed a similar crackdown by FBI on scores of Nigerian fraudsters in California and some other parts of the US, last August.
\n\u201cFraud schemes, like the ones perpetrated and facilitated by these defendants, inflict considerable losses on citizens, companies, and the financial system,\u201d U.S. Attorney Byung J. \u201cBJay\u201d Pak said.
\n\u201cSome of these schemes target the elderly and often deplete the victims\u2019 entire life savings. These arrests affirm the Department of Justice\u2019s commitment to prosecuting those who prey on our most vulnerable citizens.
\n\u201cThe FBI would like to thank our numerous federal, state and local law enforcement partners who helped make these arrests possible,\u201d Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker, said.
\n\u201cThere is no way we can make the victims of these schemes, many who have lost their life savings, whole again. Hopefully the arrests and pending prosecutions will at least give them solace that someone is being held accountable for their losses.\u201d
\nAccording to Pak, the indictment, and other information presented in court indicate that, \u201cThe defendants served as money launderers for other individuals throughout the world who conducted cyber-enabled fraud, including business email compromise schemes, romance scams, and retirement account scams, targeted at companies and individuals across the United States.
\n\u201cThe defendants and co-conspirators facilitated BEC schemes, romance scams, and retirement account scams by receiving and distributing fraudulent funds throughout the United States and the world.
\n\u201cOver the course of the conspiracy, the defendants and their co-conspirators laundered over $30million in fraud proceeds.
\n\u201cThe defendants created multiple sham companies that did not have physical premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees. In turn, the defendants opened business bank accounts at multiple financial institutions to facilitate receipt of the fraudulent money.
\n\u201cThe defendants also opened personal bank accounts to receive fraudulent funds, often using false identities and victims\u2019 identities. After funds were deposited into the defendants\u2019 bank accounts, the money was quickly withdrawn from the accounts and circulated among the defendants.
\n\u201cThe following individuals have been charged with money laundering conspiracy: Darius Sowah Okang, a.k.a Michael J. Casey, a.k.a Richard Resser, a.k.a Thomas Vaden, a.k.a Michael Lawson, a.k.a Matthew Reddington, a.k.a Michael Little, 29, of Stone Mountain, Georgia; Dominique Raquel Golden, a.k.a Desire Tamakloe, a.k.a Mellissa Moore, a.k.a Nicole Nolay, a.k.a Raquel Roberts, a.k.a Maria Henderson, a.k.a Raquel Golden, 29, of Houston, Texas; Blessing Oluwatimilehin Ojo, a.k.a \u201cTimmy,\u201d 34, of Nigeria; George Kodjo Edem Adatsi, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia; Desire Elorm Tamakloe, a.k.a \u201cChubby,\u201d 25, of Smyrna, Georgia; and Solomon Agyapong, a.k.a \u201cGumpe,\u201d 31, of Marietta, Georgia.
\n\u201cOthers include, Afeez Olaide Adeniran, a.k.a \u201cOla,\u201d 31, of Atlanta, Georgia; Francesco Benjamin, a.k.a \u201cB-More,\u201d 30, of Atlanta, Georgia; Jonathan Kojo Agbemafle, a.k.a \u201cSkinny,\u201d 26, of Kansas City, Missouri; Joshua Roberts, a.k.a \u201cOnyx,\u201d 28, of Houston, Texas; Hamza Abdallah, a.k.a Reggie Lewis, 30, of McDonough, Georgia; Prince Sheriff Okai, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Kelvin Prince Boateng, 24, of Atlanta, Georgia; Monique Wheeler, 29, of Atlanta, Georgia; Matthan Bolaji Ibidapo, a.k.a \u201cB.J.,\u201d 27, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Stephen Abbu Jenkins, a.k.a \u201cFace,\u201d a.k.a Steven Abbu Jenkins, Steven Jenkins, Steve Jenkins, 53, of Atlanta, Georgia; Kahlia Andrea Siddiqui, 28, of Chamblee, Georgia; Alexus Ciera Johnson, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Abubakar Sadik Ibrahim, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Emanuela Joe Joseph, 34, of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Obinna Nwosu, 26, of Douglasville, Georgia; Ojebe Obewu Ojebe, 27, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Gregory Thomas Hudson, 38, of Powder Springs, Georgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other United States federal agents have arrested 24 individuals, among them Nigerians, for their involvement in a large-scale fraud and money laundering operation that targeted citizens, corporations, and financial institutions throughout the United States. Two of the Nigerians, Afeez Olaide Adeniran and Blessing Ojo, face a separate charge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-231106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=231106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/231113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=231106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=231106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}