A United States court has sentenced Oluwaseun Adekoya, a 40-year-old Nigerian resident of New Jersey, to 20 years in prison for alleged bank fraud.
Adekoya, who used several aliases including Ace G., Broda, Legendary, Santa, Santana, Sammy LaBanco, Sean Maison and Kiing_maison, was convicted earlier this year after a three-week trial. He was formally sentenced on December 1.
Adekoya obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States in 2004.
John Sarcone, acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, described him as a fraudster who “abused the privilege of lawful permanent resident status to steal the identities of innocent Americans so he could live lavishly in our country, without an ounce of remorse”.
In a statement, the US attorney general’s office for the Northern District of New York said the investigation began in May 2022 when Broadview Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Albany, detected a series of impersonation transactions at its branches in the capital region and referred the case to the FBI’s Albany field office.
“The ensuing investigation led to the discovery that Adekoya was the mastermind of the nationwide operations and to the prosecution of 13 additional coconspirators through a series of superseding indictments, all of whom pleaded guilty to their roles in the offences before trial,” the statement reads.
“The defendant’s conspiracies were brought to a screeching halt by his federal arrest on an initial indictment on December 12, 2023.
“Evidence at trial showed that when the FBI attempted to enter the defendant’s luxury apartment on December 12, 2023, to execute a federal search warrant, Adekoya wiped the primary phone he had used to orchestrate the conspiracy.
“Nonetheless, the FBI seized numerous ‘burner’ phones used by Adekoya to perpetrate the charged crimes.
“The FBI also seized Rolex watches, a $51,000 Tiffany engagement ring, designer handbags and shoes, and approximately $26,000 in a bank account used by Adekoya to launder his proceeds.
“The government has since forfeited those items and others.”
Prosecutors described Adekoya as a “career fraudster”, saying he ran the operation from his luxury apartment in New Jersey.
He obtained publicly available information about people’s HELOC accounts at localised credit unions across the US and shifted his focus to different regions over time to evade law enforcement.
He then used encrypted messaging platforms such as Telegram to acquire social security numbers, account numbers, mothers’ maiden names, and other personal identifying information for individuals with significant equity available in their HELOCs.
Adekoya passed the information to a network of managers he recruited across the country, along with fake driver’s licences used by lower-level workers to impersonate account holders and withdraw funds from their accounts.
To avoid detection, he used multiple “burner” phones and encrypted messaging apps while laundering his share of the proceeds through bank accounts opened in other people’s names.
Investigators said he also reinvested some of the proceeds into sustaining the scheme, including paying for air and bus travel for co-conspirators, purchasing fake driver’s licences, and renting vehicles used to transport workers to credit unions.
Craig L. Tremaroli, FBI special agent in charge of the Albany field office, said Adekoya spent nearly two decades building “a massive criminal network that stole from hard-working Americans”.
“This sentence ensures he’ll spend the next two decades of his life in federal prison,” Tremaroli said.
During sentencing, US District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino described Adekoya as “a perpetual thief” and a “flagrant serial offender” who has “orchestrated increasingly sophisticated felony identity-theft and fraud offences since he started his criminal career in 2008 at the age of 22”.
The judge also sentenced more than 10 of Adekoya’s co-conspirators, who received varying prison terms.
In addition to the 20-year prison sentence, Adekoya will serve five years of supervised release and must pay more than $2.2 million in restitution along with a $1,100 special assessment.
He will also be deported from the United States after completing his prison term.
