US-based Nigerian risks 20-year jail term for money laundering

A US-based Nigerian, Samson Omoniyi, is at risk of being slapped with a 20-year jail term for money laundering and internet fraud.

An official website of the United States government, Office Of Public Affairs in the Department of Justice in a report on Wednesday, said Omoniyi is a member of a group of multi-state money laundering organisations charged with wide-ranging offences.

“An indictment was unsealed yesterday (Tuesday, November 26, 2024) in Nashville, Tennessee, charging nine members of a multi-state money laundering organization responsible for laundering millions of dollars derived from internet fraud, including business email compromise schemes,” the report read.

“The nine defendants were arrested in a takedown coordinated across three jurisdictions.

“According to court documents, Samson A. Omoniyi, 43 of Houston; Misha L. Cooper, 50 of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Robert A. Cooper, 66 of Murfreesboro; Carlesha L. Perry, 36 of Houston; Whitney D. Bradley, 30 of Florissant, Missouri; Lauren O. Guidry, 32 of Houston; Caira Y. Osby, 44 of Houston; Dazai S. Harris, 34 of Murfreesboro; and Edward D. Peebles, 35, of Murfreesboro, were charged with conspiracy to engage in money laundering.”

According to the report as alleged in the indictment, the defendants were members of a long-running money laundering organization operating since approximately November 2016 in and around Tennessee, Texas, and across the US.

It stated that the conspirators allegedly structured the organization in order for recruiters or “herders” to recruit and directed participants or “money mules” to launder money obtained from internet frauds that targeted businesses and individuals in the United States and abroad.

The defendants allegedly carried out their operations, using sham and front companies to conceal the fraud proceeds and enrich the members of the conspiracy.

The report added that the conspiracy is alleged to have agreed to launder more than $20 million in fraud proceeds.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Jaworski for the Middle District of Tennessee; and Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.

“The defendants each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the report read.

The FBI Nashville Field Office and Salt Lake City Field Office, Boise Resident Agency are investigating the case. FBI’s Forensic Accountant Support Team provided valuable assistance in the investigation.

Trial Attorneys Kenneth Kaplan and Jasmin Salehi Fashami of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Carran Daughtrey for the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

An indictment, meanwhile, is only an allegation, according to the law as all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court.