Operation Catch Me if You Can: Nigerian Ringleader of Nationwide Bank Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracies Sentenced to Twenty Years in Prison

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Oluwaseun Adekoya, a/k/a “Ace G.,” a/k/a “BRODA,” a/k/a “Legendary,” a/k/a “SANTA,” a/k/a “SANTANA,” a/k/a “Sammy LaBanco,” a/k/a “Sean Maison,” a/k/a ”Kiing_maison,” age 40, of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison. Earlier this year, a jury found Adekoya guilty of bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft after a three-week trial.  Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Proof at trial established that from the comfort of his luxury apartment in New Jersey, Adekoya, a career fraudster, obtained publicly available information regarding people’s home equity lines of credit (“HELOCs”) at localized credit unions throughout the United States, shifting his focus over time to different parts of the country to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.  He then utilized encrypted messaging platforms, like Telegram, to obtain Social Security numbers, account numbers, mother’s maiden names, and other personal identifying information (“PII”) for individuals he had identified as having substantial amounts of equity available in their HELOCs.  Adekoya then gave this information to a vast web of managers he recruited from all over the country, along with fake driver’s licenses for lower-level workers to use to impersonate the HELOC customers and conduct withdrawal transactions on their accounts.  To insulate himself from detection, Adekoya utilized a web of “burner” phones and encrypted messaging applications and laundered his substantial share of the proceeds through bank accounts in other people’s names.  Adekoya also reinvested some of the proceeds into continuing the fraud scheme by purchasing air and bus travel for coconspirators, fake driver’s licenses, and rental cars used to drive workers to credit unions.

Adekoya, a citizen of Nigeria, previously obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States in 2004.  In sentencing Adekoya, U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino noted that Adekoya is a “a perpetual thief” and a “flagrant serial offender” who has orchestrated increasingly sophisticated felony identity-theft and fraud offenses since he started his criminal career in 2008 at the age of 22. 

“For nearly two decades, Oluwaseun Adekoya abused the privilege of lawful permanent resident status to steal the identities of innocent Americans so he could live lavishly in our country, without an ounce of remorse,” Acting U.S. Attorney Sarcone said.  “Now he gets to spend two decades in prison, and he deserves every last day of his sentence.  I look forward to his subsequent removal from the United States.”  

Special Agent in Charge Tremaroli stated: “Mr. Adekoya spent almost two decades of his life creating a massive criminal network that stole from hard-working Americans. This sentence ensures he’ll spend the next two decades of his life in federal prison. The FBI is grateful to the numerous law enforcement and banking institution partners who provided the assistance needed to take down Mr. Adekoya and his associates and ensure justice for the victims. We remain deeply committed to using every resource available to investigate and bring to justice any individual or organization focused on defrauding our citizens.”

The investigation into Adekoya began in May 2022, when Broadview Federal Credit Union (formerly CAP COM Federal Credit Union and State Employees Federal Credit Union (SEFCU)), headquartered in Albany, identified a series of impersonation transactions at its branches in the Capital Region and referred the case to the FBI-Albany.  The ensuing investigation led to the discovery of Adekoya as the mastermind of the nationwide operations and the prosecution of 13 additional coconspirators through a series of superseding indictments, all of whom pled guilty for their roles in the offenses prior to trial. 

The defendant’s conspiracies were brought to a screeching halt by his federal arrest on an initial indictment on December 12, 2023.  He has since been detained and the government twice superseded the indictment to add additional coconspirators and charges.  Evidence at trial showed that when the FBI attempted to enter the defendant’s luxury apartment on December 12, 2023, to execute a federal search warrant, Adekoya wiped the primary phone he had used to orchestrate the conspiracy.  Nonetheless, the FBI seized numerous “burner” phones used by Adekoya to perpetrate the charged crimes. The FBI also seized Rolex watches, a $51,000 Tiffany engagement ring, designer handbags and shoes, and approximately $26,000 in a bank account used by Adekoya to launder his proceeds.  Those items and others have since been forfeited by the government.

As part of Adekoya’s sentence, he will also be required to serve five years of supervised release and pay restitution of over $2.2 million and a mandatory special assessment of $1,100.  He is also subject to removal from the United States upon completion of his term of imprisonment. 

The following codefendants previously pled guilty in connection with the conspiracies and were sentenced as follows: 

• David Daniyan, a/k/a “Bamikole Laniyan,” a/k/a “David Enfield,” a/k/a “Africa,” age 61, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Daniyan was sentenced to 54 months’ incarceration, 1 year of supervised release, and ordered to pay over $2.2 million in restitution.
• Kani Bassie, a/k/a “$,” age 36, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Bassie was sentenced to 11 years’ incarceration and 5 years of supervised release and will be ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined by the Court at a later date.
• Davon Hunter, a/k/a “Scams,” age 27, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Hunter was sentenced to 42 months’ incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $469,499.18 in restitution.
• Christian Quivers, a/k/a “Denzel Carter,” a/k/a “E,” age 20, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Quivers was sentenced to 42 months’ incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $385,650 in restitution.
• Jermon Brooks, a/k/a “JayB,” a/k/a “beezy,” age 20, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Brooks was sentenced to 36 months’ incarceration, 2 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $385,650 in restitution.
• Akeem Balogun, age 56, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Brooks was sentenced to 21 months’ incarceration, 2 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $262,200 in restitution.
• Victor Barriera, age 64, of Bronx, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Barriera was sentenced to time served, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $203,352 in restitution.
• Danielle Cappetti, age 46, of Bronx, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Cappetti was sentenced to time served, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $142,796 in restitution.
• Jerjuan Joyner, age 50, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Joyner was sentenced to 12 months’ incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $135,998 in restitution.
• Gaysha Kennedy, age 46, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Kennedy was sentenced to time served, 2 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $24,500.
• Crystal Kurschner, age 44, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Kurschner was sentenced to time served, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $220,850 in restitution.
• Sherry Ozmore, age 56, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Ozmore was sentenced to time served, 3 years of supervised release, and restitution in the amount of $229,303.18.

Codefendant Lesley Lucchese, age 53, of Manhattan, previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and is scheduled for sentencing next year.

FBI-Albany investigated the case and obtained invaluable assistance from numerous law enforcement agencies all over the country.  Those include the FBI Field Offices in New York, Newark, Richmond, Chicago and Resident Agencies in Westchester, New York; Brooklyn/Queens, New York; Garrett Mountain, New Jersey; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Fort Walton Beach, Florida; and York, Pennsylvania.  Additional assistance was provided by other law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement & Removal Operations (New York Field Office & Albany sub-office); U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (Buffalo Field Office & St. Albans Resident Office); U.S. Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; New York law enforcement agencies including the New York State Police; Cohoes PD; Colonie PD; Elmira PD; Corning PD; Plattsburgh PD; Albany County Sheriff’s Office; and Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office; Florida law enforcement agencies including the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies including the Pennsylvania State Police and Franklin County District Attorney’s Office; Alabama law enforcement agencies including the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Gasden PD, and Rainbow City PD; Georgia law enforcement agencies including the Georgia State Patrol, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, and Morrow PD; Kansas law enforcement agencies including Lawrence PD and Overland Park PD; New Hampshire law enforcement agencies including Rochester PD, Manchester PD, and Amherst PD; the Delaware State Police; Maryland law enforcement agencies including the Maryland State Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Office and Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office; the Virginia State Police; Wisconsin law enforcement agencies including Onalaska PD and Eau Claire PD; and Indiana law enforcement agencies including the Allen County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin S. Clark, Mathew M. Paulbeck, and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting this case.

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