Kani Bassie, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, and Jermon Brooks, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty last week to their roles in a multimillion-dollar bank fraud conspiracy led by Oluwaseun Adekoya, 39, a Nigerian citizen.
United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement.
Bassie and Brooks admitted that they were members of a conspiracy to defraud financial institutions all over the country by obtaining the personal identifying information of individuals and using lower-level “workers” to impersonate the identity-theft victims to conduct fraudulent banking transactions in their names.
Bassie and Brooks supervised and oversaw lower-level coconspirators who withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from identity-theft victims in the Northern District of New York and all over the country.
Bassie admitted to conspiring with alleged ringleader Adekoya to launder bank fraud proceeds in transactions designed to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds and to use bank fraud proceeds to reinvest in the ongoing conspiracy.
Adekoya, the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, faces trial beginning June 9, 2025, before United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino on a second superseding indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft.
The charges against Adekoya in the second superseding indictment are merely accusations. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
“And then there was one,” United States Attorney Sarcone said. “We look forward to trial. We appreciate the efforts of the FBI and many other law enforcement partners across the country in uncovering this scheme.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Tremaroli stated, “The FBI takes very seriously our responsibility to investigate and pursue those who commit fraud for personal gain. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who use illegal means and criminal behaviour to take advantage of others.”
The prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI Albany Field Office, which began after the May 2022 arrest of David Daniyan, aka Bamikole Laniyan, aka David Enfield, aka Africa, 60, of Brooklyn, New York, Gaysha Kennedy, 46, of Brooklyn, and Victor Barriera, 64, of the Bronx, New York, by the Cohoes Police Department after the trio traveled to the Capital Region to commit bank fraud.
According to documents previously filed in the case, the investigation has uncovered over $2 million in fraudulent transactions to date.
At sentencing later this year, Bassie and Brooks face a maximum term of 30 years’ incarceration for the bank fraud conspiracy, Bassie faces a maximum term of 20 years’ incarceration for the money laundering conspiracy, and Bassie and Brooks face a mandatory consecutive term of two years’ incarceration for their convictions of aggravated identity theft.
The defendants will be ordered to pay restitution and will also face a term of post-incarceration supervised release of up to five years.
