Western District of North Carolina Previously Extradited Nigerian National Sentenced For Role In MultimillionDollar Business Email Compromise Schemes Targeting Educational Institutions And Businesses in North Carolina and Texas United States Department of Justice
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ppCHARLOTTE NC A dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his role in a multimilliondollar business email compromise BEC scheme announced Dena J King US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina and Alamdar S Hamdani US Attorney for the Southern District of TexasppAccording to court documents Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo 45 conspired with others to participate in multiple cyberenabled BEC schemes that defrauded a North Carolina university of more than 19 million and attempted to steal more than 3 million from victim entities in Texas including local government entities construction companies and a Houstonarea collegeppAdeagbo also known as John Edwards and John Dayo arrived in the United States in August 2022 after he was extradited from the United Kingdom to face criminal charges filed in Charlotte and in Houston On April 8 2024 Adeagbo pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his criminal conduct in both cases following the transfer of the case in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas to the US District Court for the Western District of North CarolinappBEC schemes like the one perpetrated by Adeagbo and his coconspirators are sophisticated and devastating crimes that target the trust businesses and institutions place in their daily operations said US Attorney King By exploiting this trust fraudsters steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims This case demonstrates the commitment of my office and our law enforcement partners to pursue justice for those impacted by these schemes and to hold cybercriminals accountable regardless of where they are operating fromppAdeagbo ran a sophisticated 21st century cybercriminal operation hiding behind fake email accounts and anonymous internet addresses to steal from the innocent a crime as old as time itself said US Attorney Hamdani BEC scams have become an epidemic with individuals and businesses suffering debilitating financial losses while eroding societys trust in digital communications and undermining overall economic stability Thats why prosecutors and agents in two jurisdictions worked tirelessly to identify Adeagbo and reach across the Atlantic to bring him to justice ppOludayo Adeagbo thought he was pretty slick stealing other peoples money via this scam His victims however strongly disagreed said Executive Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI Instead of enjoying the fruits of his illegal labors Adeagbo will now be spending time in a federal prison The BEC is one of the fastest growing and most costly scams and the only way to fight it is through cooperation often international cooperation and this case is a prime example of partnerships workingppAs a North Carolina University planned for growth with a new construction project Adeagbo worked on a scheme to defraud the school by stealing nearly two million dollars of its funding said Special Agent in Charge Robert M DeWitt of the FBI Charlotte Field Office When he and his conspirators first committed this business email compromise more than seven years ago they likely never expected to get caught This federal prison sentence shows the FBI will do everything possible to find and hold international financial fraudsters accountableppMr Adeagbos multimilliondollar BEC scheme inflicted substantial financial damage on trusted educational institutions government municipalities and innocent businesses within our community said Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI Houston Field Office In a world increasingly reliant on the digital landscape this sentencing serves as a powerful reminder that cybercrime has real consequences FBI Houston will continue to investigate attribute and impose severe consequences on cyber criminals seeking to harm others through deceit and fraudppA BEC scheme also referred to as cyberenabled financial fraud is a sophisticated scam that often targets individuals employees or businesses involved in financial transactions or that regularly perform wire transfer payments Fraudsters are usually part of larger criminal networks operating in the United States and abroadppThere are many variations of BEC scams Generally the schemes involve perpetrators gaining unauthorized access to legitimate email accounts or creating email accounts that closely resemble those of individuals or employees associated with the targeted businesses or involved in business transactions with the victim businesses The scammers then use the compromised or fake email accounts to send false wiring instructions to the targeted businesses or individuals to dupe the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators of the scheme Generally the money is quickly transferred to other accounts in the United States or overseasppThe North Carolina BEC SchemeppAccording to court documents and court proceedings from August 30 2016 to January 12 2017 Adeagbo his codefendant Donald Ikenna Echeazu 42 a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom extradited to the United States and others defrauded a North Carolina university the University of more than 19 million via a BEC schemeppCourt records show that Adeagbo and his coconspirators obtained information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the United States including an ongoing multimilliondollar project at the University To execute the scheme Adeagbo Echeazu and others registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the Universitys project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company Using the fake email address the fraudsters deceived and directed the University to wire a payment of more than 19 million to a bank account controlled by an individual working under the direction of Adeagbo and his coconspirators Upon receiving the payment Adeagbo and his coconspirators laundered the stolen proceeds through a series of financial transactions designed to conceal the fraudppThe Texas BEC SchemeppAccording to information contained in court documents from November 2016 until July 2018 Adeagbo conspired with others to participate in multiple cyberenabled business email compromises in an attempt to steal more than 3 million from victim entities in Texas including local government entities construction companies and a Houstonarea college As with the scheme in North Carolina Adeagbo and his coconspirators registered domain names that looked similar to legitimate companies They then sent emails from those domains pretending to be employees at those companies to clients or customers of the companies they impersonated and deceived those customers into sending wire payments to bank accounts the coconspirators controlledppAdeagbo remains in federal custody He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facilityppOn May 16 2023 Echeazu was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release and was ordered to pay 65540887 in restitution for his role in the conspiracy ppAs part of his sentence Adeagbo was sentenced to one year of supervised release following his sentence of incarceration and ordered to pay 94265503 in restitution for his role in the scheme ppThe FBIs Houston Cyber Task Force and Charlotte Field Office conducted the investigation with assistance from the FBIs Cyber and Criminal Investigative Divisions The United Kingdoms National Crime Agency Metropolitan Police Service City of London Police and Crown Prosecution Service also provided substantial assistance The Justice Departments Office of International Affairs helped secure the arrest and extraditionppAssistant US Attorney Graham Billings for the Western District of North Carolina Assistant US Attorney Rodolfo Ramirez for the Southern District of Texas and Trial Attorney Brian Mund of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section prosecuted the caseppIf you suspect you are a victim of a BEC scheme you can file a complaint online with the FBIs Internet Complaint Crime Complaint Center IC3 at becic3gov The IC3 staff reviews complaints to detect patterns or other indicators of significant criminal activity for potential criminal prosecution The FBI provides a variety of resources relating to BEC scams through the IC3 which can be located at wwwic3gov For more information on BEC scams visit wwwfbigovscamsandsafetycommonscamsandcrimesbusinessemailcompromisepp ppWestern North Carolina
Main Office
227 West Trade St
Suite 1650
Charlotte NC 28202ppEmail USAOWDNCppCharlotte 704 3446222
Asheville 828 2714661ppStay ConnectedppppHave a question about Government Servicesp
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Lock
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ppCHARLOTTE NC A dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his role in a multimilliondollar business email compromise BEC scheme announced Dena J King US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina and Alamdar S Hamdani US Attorney for the Southern District of TexasppAccording to court documents Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo 45 conspired with others to participate in multiple cyberenabled BEC schemes that defrauded a North Carolina university of more than 19 million and attempted to steal more than 3 million from victim entities in Texas including local government entities construction companies and a Houstonarea collegeppAdeagbo also known as John Edwards and John Dayo arrived in the United States in August 2022 after he was extradited from the United Kingdom to face criminal charges filed in Charlotte and in Houston On April 8 2024 Adeagbo pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his criminal conduct in both cases following the transfer of the case in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas to the US District Court for the Western District of North CarolinappBEC schemes like the one perpetrated by Adeagbo and his coconspirators are sophisticated and devastating crimes that target the trust businesses and institutions place in their daily operations said US Attorney King By exploiting this trust fraudsters steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims This case demonstrates the commitment of my office and our law enforcement partners to pursue justice for those impacted by these schemes and to hold cybercriminals accountable regardless of where they are operating fromppAdeagbo ran a sophisticated 21st century cybercriminal operation hiding behind fake email accounts and anonymous internet addresses to steal from the innocent a crime as old as time itself said US Attorney Hamdani BEC scams have become an epidemic with individuals and businesses suffering debilitating financial losses while eroding societys trust in digital communications and undermining overall economic stability Thats why prosecutors and agents in two jurisdictions worked tirelessly to identify Adeagbo and reach across the Atlantic to bring him to justice ppOludayo Adeagbo thought he was pretty slick stealing other peoples money via this scam His victims however strongly disagreed said Executive Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI Instead of enjoying the fruits of his illegal labors Adeagbo will now be spending time in a federal prison The BEC is one of the fastest growing and most costly scams and the only way to fight it is through cooperation often international cooperation and this case is a prime example of partnerships workingppAs a North Carolina University planned for growth with a new construction project Adeagbo worked on a scheme to defraud the school by stealing nearly two million dollars of its funding said Special Agent in Charge Robert M DeWitt of the FBI Charlotte Field Office When he and his conspirators first committed this business email compromise more than seven years ago they likely never expected to get caught This federal prison sentence shows the FBI will do everything possible to find and hold international financial fraudsters accountableppMr Adeagbos multimilliondollar BEC scheme inflicted substantial financial damage on trusted educational institutions government municipalities and innocent businesses within our community said Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI Houston Field Office In a world increasingly reliant on the digital landscape this sentencing serves as a powerful reminder that cybercrime has real consequences FBI Houston will continue to investigate attribute and impose severe consequences on cyber criminals seeking to harm others through deceit and fraudppA BEC scheme also referred to as cyberenabled financial fraud is a sophisticated scam that often targets individuals employees or businesses involved in financial transactions or that regularly perform wire transfer payments Fraudsters are usually part of larger criminal networks operating in the United States and abroadppThere are many variations of BEC scams Generally the schemes involve perpetrators gaining unauthorized access to legitimate email accounts or creating email accounts that closely resemble those of individuals or employees associated with the targeted businesses or involved in business transactions with the victim businesses The scammers then use the compromised or fake email accounts to send false wiring instructions to the targeted businesses or individuals to dupe the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators of the scheme Generally the money is quickly transferred to other accounts in the United States or overseasppThe North Carolina BEC SchemeppAccording to court documents and court proceedings from August 30 2016 to January 12 2017 Adeagbo his codefendant Donald Ikenna Echeazu 42 a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom extradited to the United States and others defrauded a North Carolina university the University of more than 19 million via a BEC schemeppCourt records show that Adeagbo and his coconspirators obtained information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the United States including an ongoing multimilliondollar project at the University To execute the scheme Adeagbo Echeazu and others registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the Universitys project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company Using the fake email address the fraudsters deceived and directed the University to wire a payment of more than 19 million to a bank account controlled by an individual working under the direction of Adeagbo and his coconspirators Upon receiving the payment Adeagbo and his coconspirators laundered the stolen proceeds through a series of financial transactions designed to conceal the fraudppThe Texas BEC SchemeppAccording to information contained in court documents from November 2016 until July 2018 Adeagbo conspired with others to participate in multiple cyberenabled business email compromises in an attempt to steal more than 3 million from victim entities in Texas including local government entities construction companies and a Houstonarea college As with the scheme in North Carolina Adeagbo and his coconspirators registered domain names that looked similar to legitimate companies They then sent emails from those domains pretending to be employees at those companies to clients or customers of the companies they impersonated and deceived those customers into sending wire payments to bank accounts the coconspirators controlledppAdeagbo remains in federal custody He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facilityppOn May 16 2023 Echeazu was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release and was ordered to pay 65540887 in restitution for his role in the conspiracy ppAs part of his sentence Adeagbo was sentenced to one year of supervised release following his sentence of incarceration and ordered to pay 94265503 in restitution for his role in the scheme ppThe FBIs Houston Cyber Task Force and Charlotte Field Office conducted the investigation with assistance from the FBIs Cyber and Criminal Investigative Divisions The United Kingdoms National Crime Agency Metropolitan Police Service City of London Police and Crown Prosecution Service also provided substantial assistance The Justice Departments Office of International Affairs helped secure the arrest and extraditionppAssistant US Attorney Graham Billings for the Western District of North Carolina Assistant US Attorney Rodolfo Ramirez for the Southern District of Texas and Trial Attorney Brian Mund of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section prosecuted the caseppIf you suspect you are a victim of a BEC scheme you can file a complaint online with the FBIs Internet Complaint Crime Complaint Center IC3 at becic3gov The IC3 staff reviews complaints to detect patterns or other indicators of significant criminal activity for potential criminal prosecution The FBI provides a variety of resources relating to BEC scams through the IC3 which can be located at wwwic3gov For more information on BEC scams visit wwwfbigovscamsandsafetycommonscamsandcrimesbusinessemailcompromisepp ppWestern North Carolina
Main Office
227 West Trade St
Suite 1650
Charlotte NC 28202ppEmail USAOWDNCppCharlotte 704 3446222
Asheville 828 2714661ppStay ConnectedppppHave a question about Government Servicesp
