Nigerian extradited to US over ‘$6m fraud’ — 3 years after he was declared wanted

Alex Ogunshakin, a Nigerian, has been extradited to the United States of America over alleged $6 million fraud.

In June 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared Ogunshakin and five other Nigerians wanted for “their involvement in business email compromise (BEC) schemes resulting in over $6 million in losses”.

The FBI had posted pictures of the six Nigerians on its X (formerly known as Twitter) account, describing them as “cyber most wanted”.

Other Nigerians declared wanted alongside Ogunshakin are Uzuh Richard, Felix Okpoh, Micheal Olorunyomi, Benson Nnamdi and Abiola Kayode.

THE INDICTMENT

According to the FBI, Ogunshakin allegedly provided the bank accounts used to receive fraudulent wire transfers.

The suspect was said to have sent spoofed emails to businesses used to solicit the transfers.

In 2019, he was indicted in the US district court in Nebraska on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Subsequently, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

The alleged fraud was said to have been committed from January 2015 to September 2016.

THE EXTRADITION

In May 2020, the US government asked the Nigerian government to extradite Ogunshakin over the alleged fraud.

Subsequently, the suspect was arrested and he was recently extradited to the US.

In a statement, the US department of justice said the suspect appeared before Michael Nelson, a US magistrate judge, on September 29, 2023.

The judge ordered the remand of Ogunshakin in prison pending the completion of the trial.

The US DOJ said some of Ogunshakin’s co-conspirators had 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,” the statement reads.

“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.”