United States Attorney Susan Lehr has announced the extradition of 37-year-old Abiola Kayode from Ghana to the District of Nebraska to face charges related to an alleged $6 million cyber fraud scheme.
In a statement released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska on Thursday, it was revealed that Kayode, who had been listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Cyber Criminals list, is accused of involvement in a business email compromise (BEC) operation between January 2015 and September 2016.
This BEC scheme allegedly defrauded businesses in Nebraska and other locations of more than $6 million. The case was filed in Omaha, Nebraska, in August 2019.
“In April 2023, law enforcement authorities in the Republic of Ghana arrested Kayode pursuant to a U.S. request for his extradition. Ghanaian authorities ultimately granted this request and surrendered Kayode to FBI special agents who brought him to the District of Nebraska.
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“Kayode had an initial appearance on the Indictment on December 11, 2024. United States Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson ordered Kayode to remain detained pending trial.”
According to the indictment, Kayode’s co-conspirators impersonated the chief executive officer, president, owner, or other executives of the targeted company.
They used spoofed email accounts that appeared to be sent by the company’s legitimate business executives, instructing employees or recipients of the emails to carry out wire transfers.
“The business employees, believing the requests were legitimate, complied with the wire transfer requests and wired the money as instructed by Kayode’s co-conspirators.”
It is claimed that Kayode provided bank account details to the co-conspirators who sent fraudulent emails, instructing business employees to transfer funds to accounts controlled by Kayode and others.
“These bank accounts largely belonged to victims of internet romance scams, who were instructed by co-conspirators to transfer the funds to other bank accounts.”
Several of Kayode’s co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced.
In February 2019, Adewale Aniyeloye, one of the fraudsters responsible for sending the spoofed emails to targeted businesses, was sentenced to 96 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,570,938.05 in restitution.
Pelumi Fawehinimi, a bank account facilitator, was sentenced in March 2019 to 72 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,014,159.60 in restitution.
Onome Ijomone, a romance scammer, was sentenced in January 2020 to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay $508,934.40 in restitution after being successfully extradited from Poland.
Other co-conspirators are still at large. In October 2024, Alex Ogunshakin, who provided bank accounts for the scheme, was sentenced to 45 months in prison following his extradition from Nigeria.
“Four years ago, we identified six Nigerian nationals suspected of defrauding individual victims and businesses in Nebraska and other states of millions of dollars,” said FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel.
“Today, Abiola Kayode is the second of those co-conspirators to be extradited to stand trial in Nebraska. Our message to the remaining four co-conspirators; we are coming for you. Dismantling cyber-criminal groups that victimize U.S. citizens is a priority for the FBI, DOJ, and our international law enforcement partners.
“The FBI, working together with our partners in Ghana, particularly the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the Ghana Police Service – INTERPOL, and the Ghana Immigration Service, will continue to pursue and bring to justice criminals who engage in Business Email Compromise and other fraud schemes.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation subsequently conducted an investigation into the case.
The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs played a crucial role in facilitating Kayode’s extradition.
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