A 40-year-old Nigerian national has been sentenced to 95 months in prison in the United States for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving more than $3.1 million in proceeds from fraud schemes targeting American victims.
Oluwasegun Baiyewu, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, after being convicted by a federal jury in August 2025 on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court documents, Baiyewu led a conspiracy that laundered proceeds from various fraud schemes, including business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud.
Between May 2020 and October 2021, Baiyewu allegedly worked with at least six co-conspirators based in the United States and Nigeria to receive and conceal illicit funds.
The group allegedly used encrypted messaging applications, including WhatsApp, to coordinate the use of fraudulent proceeds to purchase salvaged vehicles in the United States, which were subsequently exported and shipped to Nigeria for the benefit of members of the conspiracy.
In one instance, court documents showed that Baiyewu conspired to launder approximately $280,000 obtained through a business email compromise scheme targeting a Puerto Rican renewable energy company.
The company was allegedly deceived into transferring the money by wire to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters and money launderers.
Baiyewu subsequently worked with his co-conspirators to use the illicit funds to make payments towards the purchase of vehicles in the United States, which he arranged to export and ship to Nigeria.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force.
The U.S. Department of Justice said its Criminal Division, through its Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), is focused on disrupting cyber-enabled criminal networks that target Americans through financially motivated scams.
According to the department, CSI brings together prosecutors to pursue cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment and cryptocurrency scams, government impersonation schemes, romance and inheritance scams, financially motivated sextortion, lottery and sweepstakes fraud and other predatory schemes.
The initiative works with U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide and international partners to dismantle criminal networks, pursue offenders, recover illicit proceeds and secure justice for victims.
The Criminal Division is also a founding member of the Scam Center Strike Force, launched in November 2025 by Jeanine Ferris Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Trial Attorneys Emily Powers and Richard Greene of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section, alongside Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico, prosecuted the case.
