Eleven people, most of them Nigerians have been charged for their alleged roles in a large-scale conspiracy to commit bank fraud in New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.
The offence was committed over the course of four years, according to the U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.
Each of the defendants were charged with bank fraud conspiracy in connection with a scheme that used hundreds of fraudulent accounts to defraud several major banks of $6 million and then launder that money and send it overseas to other conspirators.
Those charged are: Sulaiman Fola Dosunmu, 39, he lives in Darby, Pennsylvania, Tunde Adeowo, 40, (Lansdowne, Pennsylvania), Muritala Adeowo, 55, (Lansdowne), Ayanniyi K Alayande, 47, (Darby) and Ahmmed Bamidele Ponle, 41, (Darby).
Others are Margiettu M. Kamu, 34, (Philadelphia), Rafiat Adesubomi Sarumi, 36, (Yeadon, Pennsylvania) Babatunde Omotayo Oke, 40, (Hyattsville, Maryland), Adekunle Kehinde Owolabi, 49, (Laurel, Maryland), Olayinka Peter Olaseinde, 42, (Providence, Rhode Island), and Olugbenga Oyedele, 47, (Collingdale, Pennsylvania).
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:
The defendants are allegedly members of a Nigeria-based, multi-layered organisation that engaged in a massive bank fraud conspiracy in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Rhode Island. They carried out their nefarious acts between June 2016 and March 2020. This was done as a group by stealing numerous business cheques from the United States mail, altered the payee on the cheques to a fraudulent name and deposited same in bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen cheques.
Immediately the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts –before being cleared – the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts. They have used over 400 fraudulent accounts with fake identity documents to defraud the banks by doing this.
They were also accused of laundering the proceeds of the fraud by several means, including using debit cards to purchase money orders from third party stores and using those money orders to purchase used automobiles from different automobile auction companies in Pennsylvania. The vehicles were then exported to Nigeria and other countries in Africa to launder the stolen funds and to increase profits by selling the vehicles at the higher market values obtained for vehicles abroad.
The bank fraud conspiracy count carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million.
U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge, Philadelphia Division, and Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge, Washington Division; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina in Newark, Special Agent in Charge Brian A. Michael in Philadelphia, Special Agent in Charge John Ernst in Baltimore, and Special Agent in Charge Michael S. Shea in Boston Division; and the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), New York Field Office and Philadelphia Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy W. Dumas, with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service and the Pennsylvania State Police for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
