U.S.-based Nigerian Ayobami Omoniyi jailed for multimillion-dollar wire fraud

A U.S.-based Nigerian, Ayobami Omoniyi, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his involvement in multimillion-dollar wire fraud.
Mr Omoniyi, 26, who was in the United States on a Green Card, was “sentenced for laundering fraud proceeds through an unlicensed money transmitting business,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
On August 19, 2024, Mr Omoniyi pled guilty to the charges, but he was sentenced to serve 32 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen on Tuesday.
The judge also ordered Mr Omoniyi to pay $202,273.80 in restitution, and he would be “removed” from the U.S. upon serving his jail term.
During Mr Omoniyi’s trial, the court heard that he had been committing crimes since arriving in the United States and that he had been a recruiter for the scheme.
According to the DoJ, in 2021, Mr Omoniyi and others operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that received and transferred funds from business email compromise victims, including a fishing company in Australia.
“Victims received spoofed emails that appeared to come from legitimate businesses and were tricked into sending payments to accounts conspirators controlled,” the DoJ said.
In Mr Omoniyi’s plea, he admitted he moved money through multiple bank accounts as part of his plea. The funds originated from fraudsters involved in a business email compromise wire fraud scheme.
Mr Omoniyi also acknowledged receiving victims’ funds and, for a fee, transmitting the fraud proceeds to others.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Abuja
Building collapses in Abuja, rescue operation underway
Details of the incident are still sketchy as of press time.

Africa
Tinubu condoles Tanzania president over husband’s death
Mr Hassan passed away after being hospitalised earlier on Monday.

Heading 1
Russia shuts German consulate in St Petersburg over drone row
Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4.

States
Suspected motorcycle thief arrested in Jigawa
Mr Dama said the tracing operation successfully generated the geographical coordinates of the motorcycle.

Education
Kano assembly upgrades college to offer science, technology courses
Mr Hussaini said the development would enable the institution seek accreditation from NBTE alongside its existing agricultural programmes.






