Fifth Defendant Convicted for Laundering Funds from Fraud Schemes to Nigerian Transnational Organized Crime Groups
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - A federal jury in Puerto Rico yesterday convicted a fifth individual for conspiracy to launder funds in connection with multiple wide-ranging wire, mail, and access device fraud schemes.
Oluwasegun Baiyewu was convicted of a money laundering conspiracy following a 22-day trial in San Juan. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Oluwaseun Adelekan 40, and Temitope Omotayo, 40, both of Staten Island, New York; Ifeoluwa Dudubo, 37, of Austin, Texas; and Temitope Suleiman, 37, and Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 37, of Richmond, Texas, conspired to launder funds from different international organized fraud schemes, including romance, pandemic relief unemployment insurance fraud, and business email compromise scams. These fraud schemes disproportionately impacted elderly or otherwise vulnerable Americans.
“The Department of Justice will continue to identify and prosecute the fraudsters who design complex fraud schemes and the launderers that receive victim proceeds and make sure the crimes are profitable,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This conviction is a message to the transnational organized crime groups and their accomplices who take advantage of our open financial system: you cannot victimize Americans with impunity.”
“The defendant participated in a money laundering scheme turning illicit gains into a facade of legitimacy, especially those involving seniors or other vulnerable people, and businesses in Puerto Rico and the United States,” said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico. “The United States Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners commitment to investigate criminals who steal money sends a clear message: justice will prevail, and those who exploit others for personal gain will be held accountable. We thank all our partners who assisted in this prosecution.”
“The FBI is committed to taking down the key service providers that support cyber scammers and transnational organized crime,” said Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “This conviction is a reminder of the durable impact we are having in targeting the entire cybercriminal ecosystem, which is made possible by working in tandem with partners who have unique authorities and capabilities.”
“The criminals involved in this scheme thought there was safety in numbers, but the U.S. Postal Inspection Service doesn’t stop until everyone involved in schemes that target older Americans is brought to justice,” said Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Boston Division. “The defendants lined their pockets by defrauding vulnerable members of our society through various schemes designed to entice their victims to give up their hard-earned cash. This conviction is proof that anyone involved with transnational crimes will be tracked down, exposed, and made to face the consequences.”
A superseding indictment against the five defendants alleged that in 2020 and 2021, the defendants worked together to profit from efforts to “clean” money from scams involving victims, many of whom were older adults, in California, Illinois, Washington, and Nevada, and business email compromise schemes affecting victim companies in Puerto Rico and Missouri. After receiving the proceeds, according to the indictment, the defendants or their co-conspirators conducted hundreds of transactions with the funds to, among other things, purchase used cars that were shipped overseas to Nigeria.
The defendants will be sentenced before the Honorable Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach for the District of Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force are investigating this case, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force supporting the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force teams.
Trial Attorneys Emily C. Powers and Richard S. Greene IV of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico are prosecuting the case.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, experienced professionals are standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Justice Department hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available.
More information about the department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Elder fraud complaints can be filed with the FTC at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov/ or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Justice Department provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov.
U.S. Department of Justice
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Source: Justice.gov
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