Damilola Adepoju, Unemployment and Money Laundering, Massachusetts 2021

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Table of Contents

Nigerian National Charged in Unemployment Scheme

A 29-year-old Nigerian national has been charged with a series of crimes, ranging from unemployment and money laundering to romance scams targeting the elderly.

Damilola Adepoju, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., made his initial appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on May 27, 2021, where he was detained pending a hearing.

The charges against Adepoju include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. According to the charging documents, Adepoju and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent pandemic-related unemployment claims and applied for disaster-assistance loans to the Small Business Administration using stolen personally identifiable information.

In some instances, Adepoju and his co-conspirators allegedly targeted elderly victims through romance scams, taking their personal information and using them to launder the proceeds of the fraudulent schemes. Adepoju also allegedly used a shoe retail business he operated to launder funds, funneling the money to other financial accounts inside and outside the United States.

The investigation has identified more than $600,000 in actual or attempted losses to date.

Adepoju faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to 10 years in prison for money laundering, and a mandatory sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed for aggravated identity theft.

The case was announced by Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell, Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, and Nikitas Splagounias, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations.