A 34-year-old Nigerian, Adetunji Abudu, has been arrested at an airport in the United States over his alleged involvement in a fraud and money-laundering scheme targeting elderly Americans, six years after he reportedly fled to Nigeria.
Abudu, who is from Lagos, was apprehended at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, while arriving from Istanbul, Turkey, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.
The office disclosed the arrest in a statement issued on Monday, saying Abudu was among six people accused in an amended indictment of participating in a scheme that allegedly generated millions of dollars through fraudulent activities operated from Nigeria.
Investigators alleged that the syndicate preyed on elderly Americans through online romance scams, fake sweepstakes, bogus rental advertisements and fraudulent online shipping transactions.
According to the statement, proceeds from the alleged crimes were moved through bank accounts and businesses in Rhode Island, Idaho and other locations in the US before substantial amounts were transferred to Nigeria.
The authorities also alleged that members of the group used proceeds from the schemes to purchase vehicles, which were subsequently shipped overseas.
The statement said Abudu left the US for Nigeria in 2019 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched his residence in North Providence under a court-authorised warrant. Five other defendants — Dotun Olawale Alonge, Oluwaseyi Akintol, Samson Ikotun, Olabode Shaba and Oladipup Shodipu — have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and received prison sentences ranging from time served to 42 months.
The case is being handled by Assistant US Attorney John P. McAdams, following an investigation by the FBI with support from the US Postal Inspection Service and police departments in Tallmadge, Ohio, and Moscow, Idaho.
The prosecutors stressed that the indictment contains allegations and that Abudu is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
