Nigerian Hacker Babatunde Aniyi Pleads Guilty to $1.5M DoD Fraud

Babatunde Aniyi, 33, of Lagos, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today to orchestrating a $1.5 million fraud scheme targeting U.S. defense contractors—impersonating Department of Defense officials to steal high-end electronics and ship them overseas. The scam spanned multiple states and exploited government procurement channels using forged identities and spoofed federal websites.

According to court filings, Aniyi and a co-conspirator in Nigeria created fake U.S. DoD email accounts and cloned official websites to lend legitimacy to their operation. Under the guise of military personnel and procurement officers, they placed orders for computers and smartphones from U.S. contractors, rerouting the shipments to Nigeria. The deception was sophisticated enough to fool corporate fulfillment systems and logistics teams.

Two U.S.-based accomplices, Solomon Oyesanya and Oludayo Edgal, already pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Oyesanya was sentenced to sixty months in federal prison; Edgal received twenty-seven months. Both played key roles in receiving and forwarding the stolen equipment, forming the American link in an international cyber fraud ring that operated under the DoD’s name.

Aniyi was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 11, 2014. He was arrested in India in November 2015 while attending a course on computer hacking—a detail that underscores the brazenness of his criminal pursuit. Extradited to the United States in July 2016, he now faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for February 3, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

The case was jointly announced by Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jeffery Thorpe, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Cyber Field Office; and Gordon B. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office. Federal prosecutors Maya D. Song and Kellen S. Dwyer are handling the case for the government.

Court records, including the statement of facts and plea agreement, are available through the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and PACER under Case No. 1:14-cr-311. The $1.5 million in documented losses reflects only confirmed damages—investigators warn the true cost may be higher due to undetected transactions across multiple defense supply chains.