A United States court has sentenced Oluwaseun Adekoya, a 40-year-old Nigerian resident of New Jersey, to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a sprawling bank fraud and identity-theft scheme that targeted home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).
Adekoya, who went by several aliases, including Ace G.. Broda, Legendary, Santa, Santana, Sammy LaBanco, Sean Maison, and Kiing_maison, was convicted earlier this year.
He was sentenced on December 1 after a three-week trial.
Adekoya obtained lawful permanent resident status in the US in 2004.
John Sarcone, acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, described Adekoya 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, Northern District of New York, said the investigation into Adekoya started in May 2022, when Broadview Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Albany, identified a series of impersonation transactions at its branches in the capital region and referred the case to the FBI-Albany.
“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, who described Adekoya as a “career fraudster”, said from the comfort of his luxury apartment in New Jersey, he obtained publicly available information regarding people’s HELOCs at localised credit unions throughout the US, shifting his focus over time to different parts of the country to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.
He then utilised encrypted messaging platforms, such as Telegram, to obtain social security numbers, account numbers, mothers’ maiden names, and other personal identifying information (PII) for individuals he had identified as having substantial equity available in their HELOCs.
Adekoya then gave this information to a vast network of managers he recruited from all over the country, along with fake drivers’ licences for lower-level workers to use to impersonate HELOC customers and conduct withdrawals from their accounts.
To insulate himself from detection, Adekoya utilised a web of “burner” phones and encrypted messaging applications and laundered his substantial share of the proceeds through bank accounts in other people’s names.
He also reinvested some of the proceeds into continuing the fraud scheme by purchasing air and bus travel for co-conspirators, fake drivers’ licences, and rental cars used to drive workers to credit unions.
Craig L. Tremaroli, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent in charge of the Albany field office, said Adekoya spent almost two decades of his life “creating 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 the sentencing, Mae A. D’Agostino, US district judge, said Adekoya is “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 convicted more than 10 of Adekoya’s co-conspirators, who received varying prison terms.
Alongside the 20-year sentence, Adekoya is to serve five years of supervised release, pay more than $2.2 million in restitution, and $1,100 special assessment.
He is also subject to deportation from the US upon completion of his prison term.
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