Federal prosecutors have secured a conviction against a man involved in a widespread scam network that preyed on older adults and transferred millions of dollars to foreign locations.
The schemes relied on building personal connections with victims before requesting cash for phony business opportunities, legal troubles and health costs, says the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
More than $2.7 million in illicit funds were sent to Babajide Adesayo, of Atlanta, Georgia, through an intermediary who presented them as payments for vehicles from Adesayo’s dealership, after which he routed the money onward to places including Nigeria, Hong Kong and China.
The jury convicted Adesayo on two conspiracy counts tied to money laundering plus 16 separate transactional money laundering charges.
Authorities note that the man kept participating in the fraudulent activity following his indictment the previous year.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 20th.
Adesayo faces up to 20 years in prison for each conspiracy count, up to 10 years of imprisonment on the transactional money laundering counts and up to 10 years for committing offenses while on release.
Prosecutors emphasized how the laundering methods helped conceal the origins of the stolen money across multiple countries.
Victims typically lost significant sums after being persuaded to wire payments under false pretenses.
Says U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg,
“Adesayo was a key member of a complex, transnational network that preyed upon elderly victims and siphoned their retirement savings overseas, mainly to China, Hong Kong, and Nigeria, to make recovery impossible.”
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