A 35-year-old Nigerian, Olamide Shanu, has pleaded guilty in the United States to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He participated in sextortion and romance fraud schemes that defrauded about 150 Americans. Shanu pleaded guilty on Monday in the District of Idaho, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice on Tuesday. The Justice Department said Shanu and his co-conspirators made more than $2.5m from the schemes.
The sextortion scheme typically targeted male victims and persuaded them to send sexual images of themselves. The conspirators would then threaten to send the images to the victims’ friends and family unless money was paid. This was one of two schemes used by the conspirators to defraud their victims. The schemes involved victims across the United States.
The conspirators also targeted older women and men through romance scams. They used fake identities on social media to establish deceptive emotional relationships with their victims. According to court documents, the conspirators would gain the victims’ trust, convince them that they had a romantic future together and then ask them for money, citing various supposedly urgent financial needs.
The proceeds from the schemes were laundered through peer-to-peer payment applications and several cryptocurrency wallet addresses. The money was then transferred to co-conspirators in Nigeria. The US Department of Justice said this was a sophisticated international scheme that exploited Americans through sextortion and romance fraud.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said the department’s Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative was established to tackle such schemes and bring those responsible to justice. The US Attorney for the District of Idaho, Bart M. Davis, said the guilty plea demonstrated efforts to prosecute cybercriminals regardless of where they operated.
The case involved the US Secret Service and Boise Police Department, which are investigating the schemes. Shanu is scheduled to be sentenced on December 15 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The guilty plea reflects the dedicated efforts of prosecutors and law enforcement partners to disrupt international criminal networks, protect victims, and ensure that cyber-enabled crime does not go unanswered. Shanu's case is one of many being pursued by the US Department of Justice to combat cybercrime.
Key points
- A 35-year-old Nigerian, Olamide Shanu, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering after defrauding 150 Americans in a $2.5m sextortion scam.
- The conspirators used two schemes to defraud their victims: sextortion and romance scams.
- Shanu faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 15.
