Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A US court in the Northern District of Ohio has found two men and a woman guilty of involvement in an international email hacking scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 victims of approximately $215 million just as it said the crime cuts across 47 states and 19 countries.
The investigations leading to the indictment were conducted by the FBI Cleveland Division, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the US Border Patrol Sandusky Bay Intelligence Unit, while Assistant US Attorneys Gene Crawford and Robert Melching led the prosecution for the Northern District of Ohio.
A press release shared on the website of the US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, and also shared on the X platform, indicated that on April 24, 2026, a jury in Toledo, Ohio, convicted Oluwafemi Michael Awoyemi, 40, of Romeoville, Illinois; Aruan Drake, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Peter Reed, 35, of Oak Forest, Illinois, of wire fraud conspiracy.
US District Judge James R. Knepp II, who presided over the trial, additionally convicted Awoyemi and Drake of a money laundering conspiracy.
In total, 25 defendants were convicted for their different roles in the fraud and money laundering scheme, commonly referred to as a “business email compromise”.
The list of convicts includes Ayobami Osas Christopher, aka Lovely Man, 30, a naturalised US citizen residing in Lawrenceville, Georgia; Emmanuel Okereke, aka Omo Igbo, 42, a Nigerian national residing in Atlanta; Olalekan Bashiru, aka Ola Bash, 36, a Nigerian national residing in Chicago; Mark Dabney, 26, of Chicago; Casey Adesulu Jr., 28, of Houston; Jeremiah Agina, 29, a Nigerian national residing in Houston; Ayorinde Emmanuel Adebayo, 35, a naturalised US citizen residing in Olympia Fields, Illinois; and Emily Agyemang, 35, of Joliet, Illinois.
Others are Ademola Balogun, 43, a Nigerian national residing in Chicago; Olabode Bankole, 37, a naturalised US citizen residing in Loganville, Georgia; India Barnes, 37, of Atlanta; Emmanuel Essilfie, 28, a Ghanaian national residing in Naperville, Illinois; Chukwuemeka Evulukwu, 35, a naturalised US citizen residing in Atlanta; Jeremiah Glinsey, 32, of Chicago; Lon Goodman, 69, of Whiting, Indiana; Shaquille I. Jackson, 33, of Chicago; Mikhail Keize, 31, of Loganville, Georgia; and Katiera Lackey, 25, of Houston.
Also involved are Kingsley Owusu, 37, a naturalised US citizen residing in Chicago; Anton Parker, 37, of Chicago; Carlton Pruitt, 27, of Bellwood, Illinois; and Ronnell Spencer, 35, of Chicago.
Documents and evidence presented in court also indicated that individuals, businesses, and other organisations in the US were targeted and hacked by Nigerian-linked fraud organisations, and the objective was to gain access to email accounts held by individual users.
“The co-conspirators would then monitor the communications, and other activities of the individual email users to learn about their business practices and contacts. After gaining sufficient intelligence about the nature of a hacking victim’s activities, the co-conspirators would send a fraudulent e-mail to either the hacking victim, or to someone communicating with the hacking victim, requesting payment.
“Because the co-conspirators were familiar with the victims’ activities, the fraudulent e-mails are crafted in a way to convince recipients that the request for payment was for legitimate business activities.
Once members of the conspiracy obtained payment from victims, conspiracy members used a web of fraudulently created bank accounts and cash transfer systems to launder and distribute the funds,” the court noted.
It also disclosed that approximately $50 million of the stolen money was used to purchase cashier’s cheques that were presented for payment to the New Dolton Currency Exchange, a Chicago-area money service business owned and operated by co-defendant Lon Goodman.
“Goodman accepted cashier’s checks from co-conspirators who presented false identifications or presented checks payable to others.
Goodman routinely accepted false Know-Your-Customer (KYC) information and continued doing business with individuals after being warned by banks that checks were obtained with stolen funds or otherwise returned as fraudulent.
“When it became too risky to accept cashier’s checks in an individual’s name, Goodman would nonetheless accept checks from those individuals payable to shell companies that those individuals controlled.”
The court, in the press release, further disclosed that, in Ohio, victim businesses affected were in Norwalk, Kent, Akron, Hudson, Maple Heights, Westfield Center, New Riegel, and Greenwich.
Outside Ohio, victims were identified in New York, California, Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Delaware, Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, New Jersey, and numerous other states.
International victims were identified in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait, Malaysia, Panama, Bermuda, Romania, and other countries.
It noted that the wire transfers sent by the victims ranged from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. “In fact, in one instance, a victim business sent $2.7 million to a shell company bank account that was controlled by a conspiracy member.”
Meanwhile, among the items seized or subject to forfeiture during the investigation included nearly $1.2 million worth of cashier’s cheques, cryptocurrency, cash, a Patek Philippe Nautilus wristwatch of $45,000 value, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak wristwatch of $30,000 value, a Richard Mille Felipe Massa wristwatch of $140,000 value, and a 4,423 square foot residence in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
The court confirmed that each defendant’s sentence will be determined after a review of factors unique to the case, including each defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, their role in the offence, and the characteristics of the violation.
