A 26-year-old Nigerian citizen has been sentenced to 32 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $200,000 in restitution for his involvement in laundering proceeds from a multimillion-dollar wire fraud scheme, according to a Mar. 24 announcement by Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.
The sentencing of Ayobami Omoniyi follows his guilty plea on Aug. 19, 2024, for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that moved funds obtained through business email compromise scams. The case highlights ongoing efforts by federal authorities to prosecute financial crimes targeting victims both within the United States and abroad.
According to the press release, Omoniyi was involved with others in running an illegal money transmitting operation beginning in 2021. The group received and transferred funds from victims who had been deceived by spoofed emails into sending payments to accounts controlled by conspirators. Among the victims was a fishing company based in Australia.
During the court proceedings before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, it was revealed that Omoniyi had committed crimes since arriving in the United States and acted as a recruiter for the fraudulent scheme. He admitted to moving money through multiple bank accounts and transmitting fraud proceeds for a fee after receiving them from other perpetrators of business email compromise schemes.
Omoniyi will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility and is expected to be removed from the country following his imprisonment due to his non-citizen status.
The investigation was conducted by FBI-Bryan Resident Agency and Houston Police Department with assistance from Australian Federal Police; Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas has included notable figures such as Alamdar Hamdani and Ryan Patrick among its former leaders, according to the official history page. The office operates out of several locations including Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville as described on its official website. It is part of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Attorney General’s authority according to official information, employs more than 200 attorneys covering over nine million people across 43 counties as detailed online, focuses on prosecuting federal crimes and handling civil cases for the government according to its website, and recently had Alamdar Hamdani serve as leader between 2022-2025 as noted historically.
