Three alleged conspirators – Chidi Olujie, 36, a Nigerian citizen and resident of Maryland and the District of Columbia, Jennifer Chibueze, 36, a Nigerian citizen and resident of Maryland, and Jessica Nortey, 32, a Ghanaian citizen and resident of Maryland – are charged with conspiring to launder over $1 million in proceeds from a romance scam and other online frauds, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division.
“Online fraud schemes require people who are willing and able to launder the money stolen through these schemes,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “Today’s indictment reflects our commitment to aggressively prosecute the launderers whom we believe are enabling the fraudsters.”
“In today’s digital world, online scams are innumerable, so the FBI encourages you to remain vigilant whenever you’re banking, shopping, or looking for a relationship online. The defendants in this case allegedly conspired to launder over $1 million in proceeds from multiple victims using various fraud schemes. Their indictment demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to investigating fraudsters no matter what type of scam they perpetrate.”
As charged in the indictment, between 2016 and 2019, Olujie, Chibueze, and Nortey each played roles in laundering the proceeds of different online scams.
Among other things, they allegedly created companies and bank accounts that they then used to move and launder money obtained in fraud schemes, which included $774,150 from a victim of an online romance scam in 2017 through 2018, $84,320 from victims who believed they were consummating a business transaction in 2018; $140,000 stolen from a victim’s bank account in 2019; and over $37,000 in funds misdirected from a victim company in 2019 as a result of an email hack – commonly referred to as a “business email compromise” scheme.
Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, the defendants would face up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering conspiracy counts and an additional two years on the identity theft counts.
