Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - James Junior Aliyu, a 30-year-old Nigerian national residing in South Africa at the time of his criminal conduct, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Aliyu, who was arrested and
extradited from South Africa to the United States, is the last of three
defendants to plead guilty to his role in a business email compromise (BEC)
scheme.
Eight other defendants previously pled guilty in the
District of Maryland in separate cases related to the same conspiracy.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland,
announced the guilty plea with Acting Special Agent in Charge Evan Campanella,
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Baltimore on August 26, 2025.
On June 24, 2019, a federal grand jury returned an
indictment, charging Aliyu, Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo, 30, and Henry Onyedikachi
Echefu, 31, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money
laundering.
All three are Nigerian citizens who resided in South Africa
at the time of the crimes. Federal authorities unsealed the indictment on
July 6, 2022, upon the defendants’ arrests outside of the U.S. All three were
extradited to the United States from outside the country to face their federal
charges.
According to his plea agreement, from February 2017 until at
least July 2017, Aliyu conspired with others to perpetrate a BEC scheme.
Specifically, Aliyu and his co-conspirators, including co-conspirators residing
in Maryland, gained unauthorized access to email accounts associated with
individuals and businesses that they targeted.
The co-conspirators sent false wiring instructions to the
victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails — accounts associated with forged
sender addresses — to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts
controlled by the scheme’s perpetrators, which are called “drop accounts.”
Additionally, during the same timeframe, Aliyu and his
co-conspirators plotted to commit money laundering. They conspired to disburse
the fraudulently obtained funds into the drop accounts and to other accounts by
initiating account transfers, withdrawing cash, obtaining cashier’s checks, and
writing checks to other individuals and entities to hide the true ownership and
source of the assets.
As detailed in the plea agreement, the intended loss for
transactions Aliyu was directly involved in was at least $4,162,211.65. The
actual loss resulting from these transactions was at least $1,570,475.
Aliyu directly controlled at least $1,194,565 of the funds they obtained from
victims.
According to the plea agreement, Aliyu is required to pay a
money judgment of at least $1,194,565, and restitution in the full amount of
the victims’ losses, which the parties agree is at least $2,389,130.
Aliyu is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal
prison for the wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. U.S. District
Judge Deborah L. Boardman scheduled sentencing for Monday, November 24, at 10
a.m.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended HSI’s Mid-Atlantic El
Dorado Task Force for its work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked the
South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, National
Prosecuting Authority of South Africa, and South African Police Service.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of
International Affairs (OIA) provided significant assistance in securing Aliyu’s
extradition from South Africa.
OIA and the Department of Justice Canada’s International
Assistance Group also provided substantial aid in securing the arrest and
extradition of both Echefu and Simon-Ebo. Ms. Hayes also recognized
Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan S. McKoy who is prosecuting the federal case.
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