ID Theft Duo Nabbed in $930K Bank Fraud

ALEXANDRIA, VA – A pair of fraudsters are headed to federal prison after being convicted for a years-long conspiracy that bilked financial institutions out of at least $930,000. The scheme relied on stolen identities and a calculated impersonation of legitimate businesses, leaving a trail of financial ruin in its wake.

Akinsegun Oyekunle, 44, of Maryland, received a sentence of two years and two months in prison today. His accomplice, Rasheed Olalekan Williams, 51, was sentenced last week to three years behind bars. Both men pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bringing an end to a sophisticated operation that exploited vulnerabilities in the financial system.

According to court documents, Oyekunle and Williams worked in tandem, creating fictitious business registrations with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and securing fraudulent IRS identification numbers. They then leveraged these fake entities to open multiple bank accounts, all while falsely claiming to represent legitimate manufacturing and trucking companies. The audacity of the scheme extended to impersonating at least five identity theft victims – one of whom was deceased – by pilfering personal information and forging identification documents.

The duo’s method was chillingly efficient. Williams deposited stolen and forged checks, often intended for the real businesses they were mimicking, into the fraudulently opened corporate accounts. Before banks could detect the deception, Oyekunle and Williams swiftly drained the funds through ATM withdrawals and transfers to accounts under their control. Investigators recovered a detailed electronic fraud ledger from Oyekunle’s possession, containing the sensitive information of numerous victims. Williams, meanwhile, was caught with a fake driver’s license and a debit card in the name of one of the victims.

“This wasn’t just about stealing money; it was about shattering the financial lives of innocent people,” said a source close to the investigation. “They treated identities like currency, and the damage they inflicted will take years for the victims to overcome.” The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik S. Siebert, and Reid Davis, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, announced the sentencing following a hearing before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Panth prosecuted the case, with substantial assistance from former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth R. Simon Jr. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this case and report on any further developments. Court documents related to the case can be found on PACER under Case Nos. 1:25-cr-97 (Williams) and 1:25-cr-104 (Oyekunle), and on the websites of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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