Thursday, November 20, 2025 - Two Nigerian-born men were sentenced to prison in the US for laundering millions of dollars in criminal proceeds that were derived from fraud schemes targeting hundreds of victims.
Olumide Olorunfunmi, 40, and Emmanuel Unuigbe, 43, were each
sentenced to 30 months imprisonment in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday,
November 18, 2025 followed by three years of supervised release.
In addition to the prison terms imposed, they were each
ordered to pay more than $4.6 million in restitution.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina,
Russ Ferguson, made the announcement in a press release issued by the
Department of Justice on Tuesday.
James C. Barnacle, Jr. Special Agent in Charge of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina, joined U.S. Attorney
Ferguson in making the announcement.
According to court documents and court proceedings, from
2020 through 2023, Olorunfunmi conspired with Unuigbe and others to launder the
criminal proceeds of various illegal activities, including romance scams that
typically targeted elderly victims and business email compromise schemes.
Court records show that the victims of the schemes were
directed to transfer funds into domestic and international bank accounts
controlled by Olorunfunmi, Unuigbe, and their co-conspirators.
Upon receiving the fraud proceeds, Olorunfunmi, Unuigbe, and
their co-conspirators transferred the funds to other bank accounts, in the U.S.
and overseas.
Court documents show that the scheme caused more than 125
victims to transfer over $4.5 million of proceeds stemming from illegal
activities.
Olorunfunmi and Unuigbe profited by keeping a portion of the
criminal proceeds obtained through the schemes. They also profited by agreeing
to “pay” for the domestic deposits received by others by transferring Nigerian
Naira from accounts the co-conspirators controlled in Nigeria to other accounts
in Nigeria, based upon a “black market” exchange rate for United States Dollars
to Naira.
Olorunfunmi and Unuigbe previously pleaded guilty. A related
individual, Samson Amos, was also sentenced today for his role in conspiring to
operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was sentenced to five
years of probation that included a six-month period of home confinement. He was
also ordered to pay restitution.
In making the
announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the FBI
for the investigation of the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Ryan
with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte
prosecuted the case.
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