Nigerian ringleader Oluwaseun Adekoya gets a 20-year US sentence for orchestrating a nationwide HELOC fraud ring that stole millions from credit-union customers.
A Nigerian man who led a sprawling, highly organized bank-fraud and money-laundering network across the United States has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, following a landmark conviction that prosecutors say dismantled one of the nation’s most sophisticated identity-theft operations.
Oluwaseun Adekoya, 40, was sentenced in Albany, New York, after a jury earlier this year found him guilty of bank-fraud conspiracy, money-laundering conspiracy and nine counts of aggravated identity theft. He will also serve five years of supervised release, pay more than $2.2 million in restitution and faces removal from the United States after completing his sentence.
Adekoya, who lived in a luxury apartment in New Jersey, used encrypted messaging platforms and layers of intermediaries to steal personal information linked to home-equity lines of credit at credit unions across multiple states. According to prosecutors, he harvested publicly available data on customers with substantial equity, then purchased Social Security numbers, account details and other personal identifiers on Telegram to deepen the scheme.
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He provided this information—and fake driver’s licenses—to networks of managers and lower-level operatives who travelled around the country impersonating account holders and withdrawing funds. Investigators said Adekoya shielded himself using burner phones, false identities and bank accounts opened under other people’s names, while reinvesting profits into travel, counterfeit documents and logistics that enabled the ring to operate for years.
The probe began in 2022 when an Albany-based credit union reported suspicious impersonation withdrawals to the FBI. The investigation soon uncovered a nationwide web of operatives and resulted in charges against 13 additional defendants, all of whom pleaded guilty. When agents attempted to execute a search warrant at Adekoya’s residence in December 2023, he wiped his primary phone, but investigators recovered multiple burner devices and seized luxury items including Rolex watches, designer accessories and a $51,000 Tiffany engagement ring.
In sentencing remarks, U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino described Adekoya as a “perpetual thief” who had escalated his crimes since first offending at age 22. Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone said Adekoya spent nearly two decades exploiting his permanent-resident status to defraud Americans, adding that “he deserves every last day of his sentence.”
FBI said the investigation relied on extensive cooperation from field offices and law-enforcement agencies nationwide, calling the case a significant victory for victims of large-scale financial crime.