Saturday, April 12, 2025 - A 42-year-old Nigerian man, Badetito O. Obafemi, has been sentenced to prison for his role in an online romance scam that targeted elderly victims in Missouri, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on Wednesday, April
9, 2025 sentenced Obafemi, of Dallas, Georgia, to 24 months without
parole.
According to statement by the U.S Attorney's Office for the
Western District of Missouri, the court also sentenced Obafemi to three years
of supervised release following incarceration and ordered him to pay
restitution of $311,520 to the victims of his crime.
On April 18, 2024, Obafemi pleaded guilty to one count of
conspiracy to commit money laundering. Obafemi admitted to his participation in
a romance scam which targeted victims in Taney County, Mo., Northfield, Minn.,
and Bergen County, N.J., from June 2016 through at least March 2018.
The perpetrators of the romance scams used online
communications to develop relationships with the victims. The scammers then
began to request money from the victims for a variety of reasons, including
business expenses, medical expenses, travel expenses, and food.
According to court records, the Taney County victim was
contacted via Facebook by an individual claiming to be “Kevin Condon” in May
2016.
Following several conversations by email, phone, and
Facebook, “Condon” convinced the victim to send him money for expenses related
to his overseas business project and various medical issues.
Conspirators stole a total of $27,460 from the Taney County
victim. “Condon” also attempted to convince the victim to deposit $40,000 into
an account controlled by Obafemi, purportedly to pay a court in South Africa
for his release from jail.
Obafemi conspired with the perpetrators to receive wire
transfers from the victims, coordinating the necessary bank account
information, the timing of transfers, and the transfer of funds across
accounts.
Obafemi received funds in his personal accounts as well as
those of two businesses, EasyTickets, LLC, and Goeasy Logistics, LLC, which he
owned and operated out of his Georgia residence.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey
Clark. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the
Northfield, Minn., Police Department.
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