Cyber criminal Abiola Kayode extradited to Nebraska and charged over $6m cyber fraud

CYBER criminal Abiola Kayode has been successfully extradited from Ghana to the US state of Nebraska where he has been charged with offences relating to an alleged $6m cyber fraud scheme.

In a case that has been high profile for several years, this matter has come to a head after a conspiracy to commit wire fraud indictment was filed against Mr Kayode in August 2019. Mr Kayode, 37, who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Most Wanted Cyber Criminal List, is alleged to have participated in a business email compromise (Bec) scheme from January 2015 to September 2016.

This Bec scheme defrauded businesses in the District of Nebraska and elsewhere of more than $6m. As a result a case was filed against Mr Kayode  in August 2019 in Omaha, Nebraska.

In April 2023, law enforcement authorities in Ghana arrested Mr Kayode pursuant to a US request for his extradition. Ghanaian authorities ultimately granted this request and surrendered him to FBI special agents who brought him to the District of Nebraska and Mr Kayode had an initial appearance on the indictment on December 11, 2024, where magistrate judge Michael Nelson ordered him to remain detained pending trial.

According to the indictment, Mr Kayode’s co-conspirators posed as the chief executive officer, president, owner, or other executive of the targeted company. Using e-mail accounts spoofed to make it appear as though they were from the company’s true business executive, Mr Kayode’s co-conspirators was said to have directed business employees or recipients of the e-mail to complete wire transfers.

Apparently, the business employees, believing the requests were legitimate, complied with the wire transfer requests and wired the money as instructed by Mr Kayode’s co-conspirators. It is alleged Kayode provided bank account information to the co-conspirators who sent the fraudulent e-mails and which directed business employees to wire money to accounts controlled by him.

These bank accounts largely belonged to victims of internet romance scams, who were instructed by the co-conspirators to transfer the funds to other bank accounts. Adewale Aniyeloye, one of the fraudsters sending the spoofed e-mails to the target business, was sentenced in February 2019 to 96 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,570,938.05 in restitution.

Pelumi Fawehinmi, a bank account facilitator, was sentenced in March 2019 to 72 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $1,014,159.60 in restitution. Onome Ijomone, a romance scammer, was sentenced in January 2020 to 60 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $508,934.40 in restitution after his successful extradition from Poland.

Other co-conspirators remain at large. Alex Ogunshakin, a co-conspirator who provided bank accounts for the scheme, was sentenced to 45 months’ imprisonment in October 2024 after his successful extradition from Nigeria.

FBI special agent Eugene Kowel, said: “Four years ago, we identified six Nigerian nationals suspected of defrauding individual victims and businesses in Nebraska and other states of millions of dollars. Today, Abiola Kayode is the second of those co-conspirators to be extradited to stand trial in Nebraska.

"Our message to the remaining four co-conspirators is that we are coming for you. Dismantling cyber-criminal groups that victimise US citizens is a priority for the FBI, Department of Justice and our international law enforcement partners."

He added that the FBI, working together with our partners in Ghana, particularly the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the Ghana Police Service, Interpol and the Ghana Immigration Service, will continue to pursue and bring to justice criminals who engage in business email compromise and other fraud schemes.