3 Nigerians ‘Steal’ Over $5m From US Universities

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accused three Nigerians living in the United Kingdom of defrauding universities, individuals and companies in the United States of over $5 million.

According to a statement obtained from the US Department of Justice, the FBI extradited Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, Donald Ikenna Echeazu and Olabanji Egbinola to the US from the United Kingdom on August 10.

The three Nigerians allegedly swindled universities and companies in North Carolina, Texas and Virginia out of millions of dollars between 2016 and 2018.

Adeagbo and Echeazu are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft for defrauding a North Carolina university of more than $1.9 million via a business email compromise scheme.

“According to allegations contained in the indictment, from August 30, 2016, to January 12, 2017, Adeagbo and Echeazu conspired with other individuals to obtain information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the United States, including an ongoing multi-million-dollar project at the victim University,” the statement read in part.

“To execute the scheme, the defendants (Adeagbo and Echeazu) allegedly registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the University’s project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company.

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“Using the fake email address, the co-conspirators allegedly deceived and directed the University to wire a payment of more than $1.9 million to a bank account controlled by an individual working under the direction of defendants. Upon receiving the payment, the co-conspirators allegedly laundered the stolen proceeds through a series of financial transactions designed to conceal the fraud.”

Adeagbo also conspired with others to defraud individuals, local governments and a college in Houston, Texas.

Between November 2016 and July 2018, Adeagbo allegedly conspired with others to take part in cyber-enabled business email compromises to steal more than $3 million from victims in Texas. Adeagbo targeted local government entities, construction companies and a Houston-area college, among others.

He and his co-conspirators registered domain names that looked similar to legitimate companies. They then sent emails from those domains, pretending to be employees at those companies, according to the charges. Adeagbo and his co-conspirators deceived those customers into sending wire payments to bank accounts they controlled.

The Eastern District of Virginia is charging Egbinola with wire fraud and money laundering.

According to a criminal complaint issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, from September 26, 2018, to December 26, 2018, Egbinola allegedly conspired with others to defraud a Virginia-based university.

Egbinola and co-conspirators created and used a fraudulent email account that incorporated the name of a construction company that had a large ongoing contract with the university. Using this email account, Egbinola and co-conspirators deceived the university into transferring $469,819.49 to a bank account they controlled. The money was quickly laundered and transferred overseas through numerous transactions.

FBI investigation showed that Egbinola repeatedly accessed the email account used to defraud the Virginia university.

UK authorities arrested Adeagbo, Echeazu and Egbinola on April 23, 2020. The US ordered their extradition in September 2021. The three filled appeals, but the UK High Court rejected them on July 12, 2022.

Echeazu and Egbinola face up to 20 years in prison if convicted for their crimes, while Adeagbo faces up to 40 years if convicted for his crimes perpetrated in North Carolina and Texas.

FIJ