US court jails three Nigerians over $2m fraud scheme targeting elderly persons

A United States district court in Michigan has sentenced three Nigerians to prison over involvement in a $2 million wire fraud scheme targeting elderly individuals.

The three Nigerians are Fatai Okunola, Oluwaseyi Adeola, and Ijeoma Adeola. The fourth defendant in the case is Cory McDougal.

The defendants were arraigned on three-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, unlawful procurement of naturalisation, and false statement relating to naturalisation.

The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.

According to the US justice department, the defendants conspired with individuals living in Nigeria to defraud persons in the US “using interstate wire transmissions or the mail system”.

“The conspirators in Nigeria created false online personas to develop relationships with their victims over the internet, through social media, by text messages or by telephone,” US government said.

“These relationships centered around romantic interests, offers to buy or sell goods or services, apartment rentals, or offers to make loans or provide grant funding, among other schemes.

“The conspirators sent pictures or provided other information to the victims to make their schemes appear genuine.

“When the conspirators used telephone calls, they used voice-over-internet-protocol numbers to make it appear as if the calls were originating within the United States near the victims.

“After developing the relationships, the conspirators asked for money for a variety of reasons related to the scheme.”

The defendants were said to have received over $2 million from the scheme between 2017 and 2022.

The US court sentenced Okunola to 121- month imprisonment for conspiracy to commit fraud, 60 months for making false statements when seeking naturalization as a US citizen, and 120 months for committing money laundering with the proceeds from the fraud.

Adeola was sentenced to 34-month imprisonment for involvement in the fraud, while his wife, Ijeoma, got three-year probation for her “failure to report the commission of a felony to appropriate authorities and taking an affirmative step to assist in the concealment of the crime”.

The court said McDougal will be sentenced on a later date.