Source: United States Department of Justice News
Defendant Used Stolen Identities to Open Bank Accounts Which Were Used to Receive Money Obtained from Victim Companies and Individuals Under False Pretenses
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Olatunde Vincent, age 35, of Pikesville, Maryland, to 50 months in federal prison yesterday, followed by 2 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Judge Gallagher ordered Vincent to pay more than $240,000 in restitution. The charges stemmed from a fraud scheme in which Vincent and other conspirators used false identification documents containing the personal identifying information real persons to open bank accounts, which were used to receive money obtained from victim companies and individuals.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Acting Special Agent in Charge Selwyn Smith of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Lewis of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Washington Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Troy Springer, of the Washington Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General; and Acting Postal Inspector in Charge Tira Hayward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division.
According to Vincent’s plea agreement and other court documents, in early 2019, Vincent and others, including Idowu Raji, Hameed Adesokan, Adewumi Abioye, Lukman Salam, Akolade Ojo, and Damilola Lawal, conspired to defraud multiple businesses, individuals, and financial institutions. As part of the scheme to defraud, Vincent and Raji used counterfeit identification documents in real persons’ names, while other conspirators used fraudulent passports, created and used limited liability companies to further hide their identities, and opened bank accounts in the names on the identification documents and passports or the limited liability companies. Other conspirators made false representations to companies and individuals to induce them to fraudulently send money to the bank accounts. The victims were deceived through look-a-like email addresses and other fraudulent means into sending money to bank accounts opened and controlled by Vincent and other conspirators. Pursuant to the conspiracy, Vincent made multiple false representations to financial institutions and provided the financial institutions with fake documents. After the fraud proceeds were credited to the bank accounts, Vincent and others engaged in multiple transactions with the fraud proceeds, including ATM withdrawals and wire transfers at the request of Raji and other conspirators.
On June 9, 2022, Hameed Adesokan, age 35, of New Jersey, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, for his role in the related fraud scheme and was ordered to pay $2,007,475 in restitution. In May 2022 co-defendant Idowu Raji, age 40, of Baltimore County, Maryland, was sentenced to 94 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,793,472 in restitution for this and a related case. Adewumi Abioye, age 35, of Randallstown, Maryland; and Lukman Salam, age 37, of Bear, Delaware were sentenced to 27 months and 30 months in federal prison, respectively. Akolade Ojo, age 21, of Owings Mills, Maryland, and Damilola Lawal, age 32, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, are awaiting sentencing.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended HSI, DSS, the U.S. Department of Labor-OIG, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry M. Gruber, who prosecuted the case and Paralegal Joanna Huber, who assisted on the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/report-fraud.
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