{"id":29301,"date":"2017-02-08T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T16:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=29301"},"modified":"2017-02-08T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T16:54:27","slug":"three-nigerians-convicted-of-conning-americans-via-internet-scams-21-charged-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=29301","title":{"rendered":"Three Nigerians Convicted of Conning Americans via Internet Scams, 21 Charged So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>MISSISSIPPI<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23730 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/courthouse-300x142.jpg\" alt=\"courthouse\" width=\"300\" height=\"142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/courthouse-300x142.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/courthouse-768x362.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/courthouse.jpg 848w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Three Nigerians, who in 2015 were extradited from South Africa to Mississippi, were convicted Wednesday by a federal jury for Internet fraud schemes, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan<\/strong>, 30, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud, and theft of U.S. government funds, two counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Ayelotan faces up to 95 years in prison.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Rasaq Aderoju Raheem<\/strong>, 31 was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud, and theft of U.S. government funds, three counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Raheem faces up to 115 years in prison.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Femi Alexander Mewase,<\/strong> 45, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit identity theft, access device fraud, and theft of U.S. government funds. <\/span>Mewase<span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"> faces up to 25 years in prison<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Sentencing for all three is set for May 24.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Evidence in a three-week trial indicated the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The defendants participated in numerous complex Internet-based financial fraud schemes, including romance scams, re-shipping scams, fraudulent check scams, and work-at-home scams, as well as bank, financial, and credit card account takeovers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">From as early as 2001, the defendants identified and solicited potential victims through online dating websites and work-at-home opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3660 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/FBI-Cyber-Crime.jpg\" alt=\"FBI Cyber Crime\" width=\"200\" height=\"143\" \/>In some instances, the defendants carried on fictitious online romantic relationships with victims for the purpose of using the victims to further objectives of the conspiracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">For example, the defendants convinced victims to ship and receive merchandise purchased with stolen personal identifying information or PII and compromised credit card and banking information, to deposit counterfeit checks, to withdraw money from fraudulent pre-paid debit cards that were loaded with money from stolen credit cards and to transfer proceeds of the conspiracy via wire, U.S. mail, or express delivery services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">A total of 21 defendants were charged in this case: Defendants Adekunle Adefila, 41, of Nigeria; Anuoluwapo Segun Adegbemigun, 40, of Nigeria; Gabriel Oludare Adeniran, 30, of Nigeria; Genoveva Farfan, 45, of California; Rhulane Fionah Hlungwane, 26, of South Africa; Teslim Olarewaju Kiriji, 30, of Nigeria; Dennis Brian Ladden, 75, of Wisconsin; Olutoyin Ogunlade, 41, of New York; Taofeeq Olamilekan Oyelade, 32, of Nigeria; Olufemi Obaro Omoraka, 27, of Nigeria; and Olusegun Seyi Shonekan, 34, of Nigeria; have pleaded guilty to related conspiracy charges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Susan Anne Villeneuve, 49, of California, is awaiting trial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MISSISSIPPI Three Nigerians, who in 2015 were extradited from South Africa to Mississippi, were convicted Wednesday by a federal jury for Internet fraud schemes, according to officials. Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30, was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three Nigerians Convicted of Conning Americans via Internet Scams, 21 Charged So Far<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three Nigerians, who in 2015 were extradited from South Africa to Mississippi, were convicted Wednesday by a federal jury for Internet fraud schemes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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