United States Attorney Susan Lehr has confirmed the extradition of 37-year-old Abiola Kayode from Ghana to the District of Nebraska, where he faces charges related to an alleged $6 million cyber fraud scheme. The announcement was made by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska on Thursday.
Kayode, who was listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Cyber Criminal List, is accused of participating in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme that operated from January 2015 to September 2016. This scheme is alleged to have defrauded businesses in Nebraska and other locations of over $6 million.
The case was initially filed in August 2019 in Omaha, Nebraska. In April 2023, Ghanaian law enforcement arrested Kayode following a request for extradition from U.S. authorities. Following the approval of the request, Kayode was handed over to FBI special agents, who transported him back to Nebraska.
Kayode made his initial court appearance on the indictment on December 11, 2024, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson ordered him to remain detained pending trial.
The indictment outlines that Kayode’s co-conspirators impersonated executives of targeted companies. They utilized spoofed email accounts made to appear legitimate to direct business employees to initiate wire transfers. Believing the requests were authentic, employees executed the wire transfers as instructed.
Furthermore, Kayode allegedly provided bank account details to his co-conspirators, who sent these fraudulent emails instructing individuals to wire funds to accounts controlled by Kayode and associates. Many of these bank accounts were linked to victims of internet romance scams, who were misled into transferring funds as directed by the co-conspirators.
Several of Kayode’s co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced. Notable sentences include Adewale Aniyeloye, who was sentenced in February 2019 to 96 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1.5 million in restitution, and Pelumi Fawehinimi, sentenced in March 2019 to 72 months in prison with nearly $1 million in restitution. Additionally, Onome Ijomone received a 60-month prison sentence in January 2020 for his role in the scheme after extradition from Poland.
The FBI continues to pursue remaining co-conspirators, including Alex Ogunshakin, who was sentenced to 45 months in prison in October 2024 following his extradition from Nigeria.
“This case underscores our commitment to dismantling cyber-criminal groups that defraud U.S. citizens,” stated FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel. “Abiola Kayode is the second of six Nigerian nationals we identified as part of this fraud scheme to be extradited for trial.”
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with significant assistance from the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs in securing Kayode’s extradition. The FBI’s collaborative efforts with Ghanaian authorities, including the Office of the Attorney General and the Ghana Police Service, highlight their ongoing commitment to combatting business email compromise and other fraud schemes.
