Ismaila Fafunmi pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of participating in a money laundering conspiracy.]
Fafunmi admitted that he worked with other people to trick women with money through various methods, including so-called romantic scams, according to his guilt agreement.
One of the victims was a Kentucky woman, not named in court records, who joined an online dating site in June 2018.
Fafunmi, who lived in Speedway, Ind., part of Indianapolis, contacted the woman through the site and cheated on her into believing they were in a relationship, according to court records.
Fafunmi pleaded guilty in federal court Friday before U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell for money laundering charges related to romantic fraud and a subsidy fraud scheme.
According to his plea agreement, Fafunmi admitted that as of June 2018, he worked together with others, who communicated via online chats, about a plan to defraud U.S. citizens through a romance scheme.
In developing this scheme, Fafunmi and his co-conspirators would establish false profiles on dating websites that profile American men, often military men.
Fafunmi's co-conspirators engaged in conversations with victims, typically women over the age of 50, through the dating website, making victims believe that they were in a romantic relationship with the individual in the fictional profile.
Fafunmi and his co-conspirators would convince these unsuspecting women to send money for a number of reasons. A victim of the plan lived in Kentucky and sent more than $200,000 to a person she believed was her boyfriend. In another scheme, Fafunmi received funding from another woman over the age of 50, who believed she was being awarded a large grant and had to pay fees in advance to receive her award.
In either scam, if victims sent money by bank deposit, the conspirators would create bank accounts, in various names, to recover the fraudulent funds. Fafunmi and others would keep a portion of the victims' funds and then convert the rest into bank transfers, to be sent back to co-conspirators in Nigeria. The victims also sent money in the form of money orders to addresses belonging to Fafunmi and his co-conspirators. Fafunmi and his co-conspirators had to turn those funds into wires to be returned to co-conspirators in Nigeria as well.
Fafunmi was charged in October 2019.
“Internet-based romance scams and grant fraud scams, like the ones perpetrated here, prey on vulnerable individuals and frequently consist of nothing more than promises that are too good to be true and despicable efforts to cheat people out of their money,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
“Unfortunately, these scams remain prevalent; so all of us need to remain vigilant when communicating online, especially if we are asked to send money to someone we do not really know. The outstanding work of FBI personnel led to the capture and conviction of the defendant, and allows us to hold these fraudsters accountable for their crimes.”
“Nothing is as painful as a broken heart which makes romance scams particularly egregious,” said James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office. “Fraudsters who target our most vulnerable citizens online will continue to draw the full attention of the FBI.”
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Anderson.
Fafunmi is scheduled to be sentenced on November 19, 2020. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s efforts to identify and prosecute those persons who facilitate elder financial exploitation. The Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Mission, being carried out through the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force, is to seek justice for victims of elder financial exploitation. Anyone who knows someone who may be a victim of an elder financial exploitation, is encouraged to contact law enforcement. 📎 The key is : Learn how to BE HAPPY BY YOURSELF FIRST. Because a human being that is happy on his/her own will never settle to be miserable with someone else. When you find happiness on your own then you will be able to spread it and share it with someone else. ... CRITIC ALSO 🖋️ spill TEA ☕ Easy on Shade 💣
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