Operator Of Money Laundering Scheme Indicted In Manhattan Federal Court

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging ABRAHAM ADENIYI with money laundering and bank fraud offenses in connection with his years-long involvement in a money laundering operation.  ADENIYI, who was arrested this morning in Georgia, will be presented later today before a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of Georgia.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As alleged, Abraham Adeniyi used a web of bank accounts to hide millions of dollars stolen from fraud victims, some of which went to Adeniyi’s own pockets.  Thanks to the FBI, Adeniyi now faces federal charges.”

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said:  “Criminals will always believe there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As we allege in this investigation, Mr. Adeniyi and his cohorts stole money and attempted to conceal its origin through a series of bank accounts – all the while thinking no one would be able to track it. He discovered his luck ran out when all he found at the end of his rainbow was the FBI and the federal criminal justice system.”

According to the allegations in the indictment[1] filed against ADENIYI and other court proceedings:

From at least in or about 2017 through at least in or about 2020, ADENIYI opened and directed others to open multiple bank accounts, which received proceeds of various wire fraud schemes, and transferred and directed others to transfer those proceeds among the bank accounts he had opened, as well as to other bank accounts controlled by participants in the scheme, in order to conceal and disguise the source, location, ownership, and control of the funds.  As part of the scheme, ADENIYI and others used fraudulent identification information to open accounts at FDIC-insured banks and to obtain the funds in those accounts.

ADENIYI, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and onecount of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. 

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit.  Assistant United States Attorney Anden Chow is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges in the Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.