A foreign national has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for conducting a variety of cyber fraud schemes that victimised U.S. citizens and businesses.
Ridwan Adeleke Adepoju and co-schemers operated multiple fraud schemes from Nigeria, including phishing scams, romance scams, and the submission of fraudulent tax returns.
The scams involved multiple spoofed email addresses, fictional social media personas, and unwitting money mules.
Adepoju’s schemes victimised numerous U.S. citizens and businesses, including individuals and companies in the Chicago area.
Adepoju, 33, of Lagos, Nigeria, was arrested in the United Kingdom last year and subsequently extradited to the United States.
He pleaded guilty in March to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly imposed a 43-month prison sentence.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Ramsey E. Covington, Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.
“Defendant’s offence involved a years-long, complex scheme, involving several types of scams and many victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie E. Ursini argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Defendant chose to be a willing participant in the scheme over and over again.”
