Published 8th Apr, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

Tunde Adeowo, a Nigerian based in Pennsylvania, the United States of America, has admitted his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted 12 financial institutions in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.

According to a statement on the website of the US Department of Justice, on April 4, Adeowo pleaded guilty before a U.S. district judge in New Jersey to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The 41-year-old was part of a Nigeria-based criminal group that engaged in massive bank fraud in several US states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island, between June 2016 and March 2020.

”Members of the group acquired numerous business cheques stolen from the United States mail and altered the payee names. They subsequently deposited the sums into bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen cheques,” the statement reads in part.

After the accounts were credited, the defendants withdrew the funds via ATMs or purchased money orders, using the fraudulent accounts’ debt cards.

Members of Adeowo’s gang have used over 400 fraudulent accounts opened with fake identity documents to defraud banks, according to the US Department of Justice. Affected banks have lost approximately $6 million (almost N2.5 billion at the current exchange rate).

”As part of his plea, Adeowo agreed to forfeit his interest in approximately $90,000 worth of money orders which were proceeds of the bank fraud and which were seized from a public storage facility in Philadelphia used by the conspirators to store additional fraudulent identity documents and proceeds of the bank fraud,” the statement reads.

”The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2022.”

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