Nigerian National Sentenced for Laundering $3.1M in Scam Proceeds

Summary

A Justice Department press release reporting that Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 40, of Houston, Texas, a Nigerian national, was sentenced to 95 months in prison for a money laundering conspiracy. It states that he led a conspiracy that laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds of business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud by buying used and salvaged cars and shipping them to Nigeria, between approximately May 2020 and October 2021. One instance involved a Puerto Rican renewable energy company tricked into wiring approximately $280,000. A federal jury convicted him in August 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case was prosecuted with the District of Puerto Rico.

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A Nigerian national was sentenced yesterday to 95 months in prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars tied to various fraud schemes — including business email compromise, romance, and unemployment insurance fraud scams — perpetrated against U.S. citizens.

According to court documents, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 40, of Houston, Texas, led a conspiracy that laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds of various fraud schemes by purchasing used cars with illicit proceeds and then shipping those cars to West Africa. Between approximately May 2020 and October 2021, Baiyewu worked with at least six other co-conspirators in the United States and Nigeria. Using encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, Baiyewu and his co-conspirators coordinated the receipt and use of illicit money to purchase salvaged cars and then ship them to Nigeria.

In one instance, Baiyewu conspired to launder funds obtained from a business email compromise scheme perpetrated against a Puerto Rican renewable energy company, which was tricked into sending approximately $280,000 by wire to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters and money launderers. Baiyewu then worked with his co-conspirators to launder the Puerto Rican company’s money by paying toward the purchase of cars located in the United States that he arranged to export and ship to Nigeria to benefit the co-conspirators. A federal jury convicted Baiyewu in August 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, through its Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), works to disrupt and stop cyber-enabled criminal networks that prey on Americans. CSI brings together expert prosecutors from across the Division to accelerate the prosecution of cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment and crypto scams, government imposter schemes, romance and inheritance scams, financially motivated sextortion, lottery and sweepstakes scams, and other predatory schemes. With nationwide jurisdiction and global reach, CSI leverages every available tool to dismantle criminal operations, pursue bad actors, recover criminal proceeds, and obtain justice for victims. The Criminal Division partners with U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country and is 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.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force investigated the case, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force supporting the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force teams.

Trial Attorneys Emily Powers and Richard Greene of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico prosecuted the case.

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www.justice.gov