Olugbenga Lawal, 33, of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States is originally from Nigeria. He is accused of conspiring to launder money derived from internet fraud schemes.
Lawal allegedly worked directly with the leader of international criminal organization in Nigeria, which defrauded individuals and businesses across the U.S. out of millions of dollars via internet-based fraud schemes, including romance fraud and business email compromise schemes. Most of the victims were elderly individuals who believed they had fallen in love with people they had met online.
On behalf of the criminal organization, Lawal and his co-conspirators Michael Hermann, Rita Assane and Dwight Baines used bank accounts to launder money. Between January 2019 and June 2020, the accounts received millions of dollars traced directly to individuals and businesses defrauded by the organization over the internet.
Between January 2019 and May 2020, at least five bank accounts controlled by Lawal received more than $3.6 million in deposits, which were spread across seven different bank accounts he opened in his own name or the name of his business entity Luxe Logistics LLC. He converted the money into Nigerian currency accessible in Nigeria.
It was also Lawal who facilitated the repatriation of the organization’s fraud proceeds back to Nigeria. To do this, he engaged in import and export transactions involving the shipment of vehicles to the African country and currency exchange business transactions.
On August 10, 2023, a federal jury convicted Lawal of conspiring to commit money laundering. On January 8, 2024, he was sentenced to 121 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.46 million in restitution.
CONAN Daily 