President Donald is keeping is his promise to protect Americans from transnational organized crime groups and their financial networks.
On August 25, a federal jury in Puerto Rico convicted a fifth individual for conspiracy to launder funds in connection with multiple wide-ranging wire, mail, and access device fraud schemes.
Oluwasegun Baiyewu was convicted of a money laundering conspiracy following a 22-day trial in San Juan, Puerto Rico. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Oluwaseun Adelekan, and Temitope Omotayo, both of Staten Island, New York; Ifeoluwa Dudubo, of Austin, Texas; and Temitope Suleiman, and Oluwasegun Baiyewu, of Richmond, Texas, conspired to launder funds from different international organized fraud schemes, including romance, pandemic relief unemployment insurance fraud, and business email compromise scams. These fraud schemes disproportionately impacted elderly or otherwise vulnerable Americans.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico.
“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.”
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. After receiving the proceeds, according to the indictment, the defendants or their co-conspirators conducted hundreds of transactions with the funds to, among other things, purchase used cars that were shipped overseas to Nigeria.
“The criminals involved in this scheme thought there was safety in numbers, but the U.S. Postal Inspection Service doesn’t stop until everyone involved in schemes that target older Americans is brought to justice,” said Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Boston Division. “The defendants lined their pockets by defrauding vulnerable members of our society through various schemes designed to entice their victims to give up their hard-earned cash. This conviction is proof that anyone involved with transnational crimes will be tracked down, exposed, and made to face the consequences.”
On August 25, a federal jury in Puerto Rico convicted a fifth individual for conspiracy to launder funds in connection with multiple wide-ranging wire, mail, and access device fraud schemes.