A federal jury out of Maryland on Tuesday, convicted a Nigerian national on helping to scam elderly victims out of thousands of dollars.
Seun Banjo Ojedokun, 37, was convicted for a money laundering conspiracy which the court says was related to a romance scam and other fraud schemes.
Ojedokun is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. His scheduled sentencing is currently set for Jan. 20, 2021 at 10 a.m.
The U.S. attorney adds that Ojedokun was in Nigeria when he participated in the scams and U.S. officials were able to arrest him when he came back into the country for school.
Ojedokun worked with co-conspirators in the case, convincing vulnerable elderly victims to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts which he helped to launder, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Between 2013 and March 2015, Ojedokun conspired with Gbenga Benson Ogundele, Mukhtar Danjuma Haruna, a/k/a “Mukky,” and others and engaged in financial transactions to “promote the fraud scheme” and concealed the fraud proceeds, according to the attorney’s office.
The attorney’s office adds that criminals involved in the scheme set up dating profiles on websites in order to initiate romantic relationships with men and women, using phones to call, email, text and internet message to scam victims who lived throughout the United States.
Conspirators involved used fake stories, including fake hospital bills and asked for money from victims for plane tickets to come visit them and for help with “business overseas” and “foreign taxes,” witnesses testified.
The eight victims who testified in court say they lost well over $1 million in the scam, and the overall loss was “substantially higher,” according to the attorney’s office.
Another victim testified that she was scammed into believing she was hired by a company and was told to deposit the proceeds of a fraudulent check into a drop account which was controlled by the suspects.
According to the attorney’s office, the suspects laundered the money by buying used cars and shipping them to Nigeria.
Ogundele, 61, was convicted in 2016 and was sentenced to 234 months in federal prison after a 17-day trial. Haruna, 46, is still a fugitive and remains at large and his charges are still pending.
Eight other defendants were also convicted for their roles in the fraud scheme and were sentenced to serve between a year and a day and 234 months in federal prison, according to the attorney’s office.
Hur says law enforcement is “committed to bringing to justice fraudsters who prey upon the elderly” and says an Elder Fraud Hotline has been set up for victims to contact if they believe they have been targeted. The hotline can be reached at (833) 372-8311.
© WJLA
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