A Nigerian residing in Atlanta, US, Olufolajimi
Abegunde has been sentenced to 78 months in
prison after he was convicted of cyber fraud in
the United States.
A statement on the US department of justice
website on Wednesday said Brian A.
Benczkowski, assistant attorney-general of the
criminal division, and D. Michael, an attorney in
Dunavant of the western district of Tennessee,
made the announcement.
Abegunde, 32, was sentenced by Sheryl Lipman,
a judge in the western district of Tennessee, on
Tuesday.
Lipman ordered Abegunde, who has an MBA
from Texas A&M University in College Station, to
pay $57,911.62 in restitution to the victims of
his offence.
Abegunde and one Javier Luis Ramos-Alonso,
29, were convicted in March after a seven-day
trial. Ramos-Alonso received a 31-month
sentence for his role in the scam.
The convicts are said to have received more than
$10,000,000 to the detriment of US citizens and
businesses.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that
the Nigerian engaged in black-market currency
exchanges over the life of the conspiracy.
“Purporting to hold himself out as a legitimate
businessman, Abegunde claimed association
with a business entity that was not yet
operational in late 2017, so for his primary
source of income he relied on his off-the-book
currency exchanges,” the statement read.
“Through this network, Abegeunde played a key
role, along with Ramos-Alonso, in laundering
fraud funds from an Oct. 3, 2016, business email
compromise (BEC) of a land title company
located in Bellingham, Washington.
“The proceeds of another BEC perpetrated in July
2016 upon a real estate company in Memphis,
Tennessee, also moved through parts of the
same criminal organisation.”
Abegunde is also accused of witness tampering.
“While incarcerated and awaiting trial in the
Western District of Tennessee, Abegunde
continued his conspiratorial activities, trying to
convince his fake spouse, who has since filed for
divorce, to refuse to testify against him,” the
statement said.
“Abegunde also engaged in witness tampering by
sending a self-written Motion to Dismiss bearing
his former attorney’s name and professional attestation.
“The evidence at trial established that Abegunde
drafted and sent the motion, which his attorney
expressly did not authorize, to his faux spouse in
an effort to deceive her into not testifying against him.”
A campaign demanding Abegunde’s acquittal has
been launched.
In a petition , the convict is said to be a victim
of fraud himself. His case was described as that
of ”racial/ethnic profiling of a Nigerian in the
United States”.
”In 2016, Mr Abegunde (MBA) founded FJ
Williams Inc. DBA tranzAlert; A multinational
financial technology startup and Money service
Business(MSB)/ International Funds Remittances
Business duly registered with Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FINCEN), United States
Department of Treasury; authorised to act as a
Money Service Business(MSB) and licensed with
the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance,”
it read.
”FJ Williams Inc. is also licensed by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as an International Money
Transfer Operator. In addition, FJ Williams Inc .
is under permit to remit funds from Canada by
the Government of Canada.
”However, when in August of 2016 Mr
Abegunde’s friend, Ojo, came visiting with his
family to the US, Mr Abegunde (MBA) never
knew trouble was in the offing, which he may
likely pay for dearly.
”Mr Ojo had a cheque from the Bank of America
with which he maintained an account, but same
was closed arbitrarily (this is the fate suffered by
many Nigerians in the US) and he was handed a
cheque with the value of the balance in the
account on it. Mr Ojo’s several attempts to cash
the cheque over the counter proved futile and on
one of several attempts, he was advised by the
cashier, to open another account in a different
bank to lodge the cheque into the account, in
order to clear it and then get the value of the
cheque in cash.
”However, since Mr Ojo wasn’t resident in the US
and on account of his visitor’s status, Mr Ojo
used Olufolajimi’s house address in Atlanta
Georgia for the bank(Wells Fargo) requirement
on the forms to be filled out by Mr Ojo.
”Mr Ojo was notified by the bank (Wells Fargo)
in October of 2016 when a person in California
inadvertently made a transaction into his account,
Mr Ojo immediately authorize the reversal of this
transaction.
It should be noted that this money
was never withdrawn or spent by Mr Ojo, Wells
Fargo reversed the transaction.
”On March of 2017, two FBI Agents by names
Kevin Hall and Tyson Fowler visited Mr
Abegunde’s residence in search of Mr Ojo who
by then had long left the US after his visit, Mr
Abegunde (MBA) gave these two agents full
cooperation and ensured that Mr Ojo contacted
the FBI within one hour after they departed.
However during their visit, it seemed as though
these FBI Agents had already formed an opinion
of guilt about Mr Abegunde. This was evident
when they asked Mr Abegunde (MBA) “why do
you Nigerians like defrauding us Americans?
“They also asked how he could afford his living
expenses, to which he told them that he had
founded a startup duly licensed by the Georgia
State authorities and also the Central Bank of
Nigeria. Regardless of the character impugning
questions posed to Mr Abegunde, he still made
good on his word to assist in the FBI
investigation by ensuring that Mr Ojo contacted
the FBI Agents.”
Young-po Reporters 