Wednesday, April 22, 2026 -A United States-based Nigerian, Animashaun Adebo, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy over his involvement in a series of business email compromise and romance scams that resulted in more than $50m in losses.
According to a statement on the US DoJ website on Tuesday
that Adebo, also known as “Kazeem” and “Kazeem Animashaun,” entered a guilty
plea on Monday at a federal court in Brooklyn.
The statement noted that Adebo and his co-conspirators
orchestrated multiple fraudulent schemes targeting individuals and small
businesses across the United States, particularly within the Eastern District
of New York.
The statement read, “Earlier today in federal court in
Brooklyn, Animashaun Adebo, also known as ‘Kazeem’ and ‘Kazeem Animashaun,’
pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for his role in a series of fraudulent
business email compromise and related romance schemes that resulted in more
than $50 million in losses by individuals and small businesses located within
the Eastern District of New York and throughout the United States.
“The defendant and his co-conspirators misappropriated
victim funds and laundered them through shell company accounts in the United
States and abroad, sometimes using unsuspecting middlemen to further obscure
the fraudulent source of the funds.”
The statement explained further that the syndicate
misappropriated victims’ funds and laundered them through shell company
accounts both within and outside the US, sometimes using unsuspecting
intermediaries to conceal the origin of the funds.
It added that investigations revealed that the group carried
out business email compromise schemes between April 2021 and March 2022.
As part of the schemes, victims involved in real estate
transactions received fraudulent emails impersonating legitimate parties,
directing them to transfer funds to designated accounts.
“As one part of the BEC schemes, victim-individuals involved
in real estate transactions received fraudulent emails purporting to be from
legitimate parties to those transactions. The emails instructed them to wire
funds they believed to be related to the real estate transactions to specified
bank accounts.
“The fraudulent email accounts that contacted the victims
closely resembled but were slightly different from the email addresses of the
legitimate parties to the transaction (a process known as ‘spoofing’).”
Similarly, employees of targeted companies were deceived
into transferring funds after receiving emails that appeared to come from
trusted vendors or business partners.
In each instance, funds transferred by victims were diverted
into accounts controlled by Adebo and his associates.
The statement further disclosed that Adebo laundered part of
the proceeds through the purchase of luxury watches and via an illegal money
exchange operation run by his co-defendant, Idowu Ademoroti, who has already
been convicted and sentenced.
“As another part of the BEC schemes, employees of victim
companies received fraudulent emails purporting to be from legitimate vendors
or other business partners of those companies directing them to transfer funds
to specified bank accounts.
“In each case, after the victims executed the wires in
accordance with the fraudulent instructions, the transferred funds were
misappropriated from the victims and sent to and through accounts controlled by
the defendant and his co-conspirators.”
It added that Adebo ultimately received part of the
fraudulent proceeds through corporate bank accounts located in Nigeria.
According to the statement, another defendant linked to the
scheme, Nelson Ojeriakhi, was arrested in Paris and extradited to the US in
July 2025. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 and is awaiting sentencing.
It added that the fourth suspect, Noguan Eboigbe, remains at
large.
“The defendant further laundered illicit proceeds through
the purchase of luxury watches and through an illegal money exchange operation
run by his co-defendant Idowu Ademoroti, who was previously convicted and
sentenced to a term of incarceration for his role in the scheme. Adebo
ultimately received fraudulent proceeds in corporate bank accounts located in
Nigeria.
“A third defendant, Nelson Ojeriakhi, also a Nigerian
national, was arrested in Paris, France, and extradited to the United States in
July 2025.
“Ojeriakhi pleaded guilty in November 2025 and is pending
sentencing, while a fourth defendant remains at large,” the statement
concluded.
PUNCH Metro reported on April 8 that a US-based Nigerian,
Ifeanyi Ugwu, faces up to five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to
operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business involving more than $5m in
illegally obtained funds.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California,
Eric Grant, had stated that Ugwu, 49, of Bakersfield, admitted to running the
illegal operation between December 2020 and August 2023.
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