3 Nigerians extradited to the U.S over a multimillion-dollar fraud

Three Nigerians have been extradited from the UK to the United States in relation to their alleged participation in multimillion-dollar cyber-enabled business email compromise (BEC) fraud schemes.

Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, 43, and Donald Ikenna Echeazu, 40, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity th€ft for defrauding a North Carolina university of more than $1.9 million via a business email compromise scheme. From Aug. 30, 2016, to Jan. 12, 2017, Adeagbo and Echeazu conspired with other individuals to obtain information about significant construction projects occurring throughout the United States, including an ongoing multi-million-dollar project at the victim University.

To execute the scheme, the defendants allegedly 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 co-conspirators allegedly deceived and directed the University to wire a payment of more than $1.9 million to a bank account controlled by the suspects.

Also, from November 2016 until July 2018, Adeagbo allegedly conspired with others to participate in cyber-enabled business email compromises in an attempt to steal more than $3m from victims in Texas. He faces up to 20 years in prison. On his part, Olabanji Egbinola, 42, is charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

From Sept. 26, 2018, to Dec. 26, 2018, Egbinola conspired with others to defraud a Virginia-based university. Egbinola and co-conspirators deceived the university into transferring $469,819.49 to a bank account controlled by them. All three defendants were arrested April 23, 2020, by UK authorities at the request of the United States and ordered extradited on Sept. 3, 2021.

All three defendants filed appeals, all of which were rejected by the UK High Court on July 1.