US Court Jailed Nigerian Oluwasegun Baiyewu Over $3.1million Fraud Proceeds

A 40-year-old Nigerian Oluwasegun Baiyewu has been sentenced to 95 months in prison in the United States for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving more than $3.1million in proceeds from fraud schemes targeting American citizens.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, a resident of Houston, Texas, was sentenced on Wednesday after being convicted of conspiring to launder proceeds generated from several fraud schemes, including business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud.

Court documents showed that Baiyewu allegedly led a network that laundered illicit proceeds by using the money to purchase used and salvaged vehicles in the United States before arranging for the cars to be shipped to Nigeria.

The scheme reportedly operated between May 2020 and October 2021, with Baiyewu working with at least six other co-conspirators based in the United States and Nigeria.

The conspirators allegedly used encrypted messaging applications, including WhatsApp, to coordinate the receipt and movement of money obtained through fraudulent schemes.

Baiyewu and his associates would allegedly use the illicit proceeds to make payments for vehicles in the United States, which were subsequently exported and shipped to Nigeria for the benefit of members of the conspiracy.

In one of the schemes highlighted by U.S. prosecutors, the network allegedly helped launder approximately $280,000 stolen from a Puerto Rican renewable energy company through a business email compromise fraud.
The company was reportedly deceived into transferring the money by wire to bank accounts controlled by fraudsters and money launderers.

According to the court documents, Baiyewu subsequently worked with his co-conspirators to use the proceeds to pay for vehicles in the United States, which he arranged to have exported and shipped to Nigeria.

A federal jury convicted Baiyewu in August 2025 on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The latest sentence means Baiyewu will spend nearly eight years in a U.S. federal prison for his role in the conspiracy.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the FBI San Juan Cyber Task Force, with assistance from the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force.

The investigation was conducted as part of broader U.S. efforts to dismantle international networks involved in cyber-enabled financial crimes.

The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, through its Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), targets criminal networks involved in scams against Americans, including romance scams, investment and cryptocurrency fraud, government impersonation schemes, inheritance scams, lottery fraud and other financially motivated crimes.

The initiative works with U.S. Attorney’s Offices and law enforcement agencies to prosecute cyber-enabled financial crimes, recover criminal proceeds and secure justice for victims.

The Justice Department said the Criminal Division is also a founding member of the Scam Center Strike Force, which was launched in November 2025 by Jeanine Ferris Pirro, US Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Trial Attorneys Emily Powers and Richard Greene of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section, alongside Assistant U.S. Attorney Linet Olinghouse for the District of Puerto Rico, prosecuted the case.

The prosecution highlights the growing focus by U.S. authorities on international money laundering networks that allegedly move fraud proceeds across borders and convert illicit funds into physical assets.

In Baiyewu’s case, prosecutors said the purchase and export of vehicles to Nigeria formed a key part of the mechanism used to move and conceal millions of dollars linked to fraud schemes.