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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A Nigerian, Alex Ogunshakin, has been extradited to the United States of America over alleged $6 million fraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had in June 2020 declared Ogunshakin and five other Nigerians wanted for “their involvement in business email compromise (BEC) schemes resulting in over $6 million in losses.”
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.
According to FBI, Ogunshakin allegedly provided the bank accounts used to receive fraudulent wire transfers and also sent spoofed emails to businesses used to solicit the transfers.
In 2019, he was indicted by a US District Court in Nebraska on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
A federal warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest. The alleged fraud was said to have been committed between January 2015 and September 2016
In May 2020, the US government asked the Nigerian government to extradite Ogunshakin over the alleged fraud.
The suspect was arrested and he was recently extradited to the US.
In a statement dated October 10, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said the suspect appeared before a magistrate judge, Michael Nelson, on September 29, 2023.
The judge ordered the remand of Ogunshakin in prison pending the completion of the trial.
The 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.
“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,” the statement read.