A 37-year-old Nigerian man, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, has been convicted by a federal jury in Puerto Rico for conspiracy to launder funds linked to wide-ranging international fraud schemes.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Office of Public Affairs of the US Department of Justice confirmed that Baiyewu was found guilty after a 22-day trial in San Juan. He is the fifth Nigerian convicted in connection with the schemes.
Other defendants include Oluwaseun Adelekan, 40, and Temitope Omotayo, 40, both of Staten Island, New York; Ifeoluwa Dudubo, 37, of Austin, Texas; and Temitope Suleiman, 37.
Court documents revealed that the group conspired to launder funds from multiple organised fraud schemes. These included romance scams, pandemic relief unemployment insurance fraud, and business email compromise (BEC) attacks, which disproportionately affected elderly and vulnerable Americans.
According to a superseding indictment, the five defendants between 2020 and 2021 worked together to “clean” illicit proceeds from victims in California, Illinois, Washington, and Nevada, as well as companies in Puerto Rico and Missouri. Prosecutors said they used part of the funds to purchase used cars that were later shipped to Nigeria.
The defendants will be sentenced before Judge Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach of the District of Puerto Rico.
US Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow described the conspiracy as a calculated attempt to give criminal proceeds a “facade of legitimacy,” while stressing that justice would prevail. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate added that the conviction serves as a warning to transnational crime groups exploiting the US financial system: “You cannot victimise Americans with impunity.”
