A Nigerian man with dual citizenship in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in a complex business email compromise (BEC) scheme, defrauding educational institutions and businesses in North Carolina and Texas out of millions.
Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, 45, also known by aliases John Edwards and John Dayo, conspired with others to execute cyber-enabled fraud, stealing over $1.9 million from a North Carolina university and attempting to defraud Texas-based companies and institutions of more than $3 million.
His targets included local government entities, construction companies, and a Houston-area college.
Adeagbo was extradited from the UK to the U.S. in August 2022, after U.S. federal authorities filed charges in both Charlotte, North Carolina, and Houston, Texas.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April 2024, following the transfer of his case to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
The sentencing, announced by U.S. Attorneys Dena J. King of the Western District of North Carolina and Alamdar S. Hamdani of the Southern District of Texas, follows Adeagbo’s extradition from the UK in 2022, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of North Carolina.
U.S. Attorney King said, “BEC schemes, like the one perpetrated by Adeagbo and his co-conspirators, are sophisticated and devastating crimes that target the trust businesses and institutions place in their daily operations.”
According to court documents, “A BEC scheme, also referred to as ‘cyber-enabled financial fraud,’ is a sophisticated scam that often targets individuals, employees, or businesses involved in financial transactions or that regularly perform wire transfer payments.
Fraudsters are usually part of larger criminal networks operating in the United States and abroad.
The North Carolina BEC Scheme, according to court documents and court proceedings, from August 30, 2016, to January 12, 2017, Adeagbo, his codefendant, Donald Ikenna Echeazu, 42, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom extradited to the United States, and others defrauded a North Carolina university (the University) of more than $1.9 million via a BEC scheme.
Court records show that Adeagbo and his co-conspirators obtained information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the US, including an ongoing multi-million-dollar project at the University.
The document read, “To execute the scheme, Adeagbo, Echeazu, and others registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the University’s project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company.
“Using the fake email address, the fraudsters deceived and directed the University to wire a payment of more than $1.9 million to a bank account controlled by an individual working under the direction of Adeagbo and his co-conspirators.”
It said, “Upon receiving the payment, Adeagbo and his co-conspirators laundered the stolen proceeds through a series of financial transactions designed to conceal the fraud.”
Also, the Texas BEC Scheme, according to information contained in court documents, from November 2016 until July 2018, Adeagbo conspired with others to participate in multiple cyber-enabled business email compromises in an attempt to steal more than $3 million from victim entities in Texas, including local government entities, construction companies and a Houston-area college.
Meanwhile, Adeagbo remains in federal custody, he will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
“On May 16, 2023, Echeazu was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $655,408.87 in restitution for his role in the conspiracy.
“As part of his sentence, Adeagbo was sentenced to one year of supervised release following his sentence of incarceration and ordered to pay $942,655.03 in restitution for his role in the scheme,” the document added. (SaharaReporters)
