A United States federal court has imposed a 20-year sentence on Oluwaseun Adekoya, a 40-year-old Nigerian who lived in New Jersey, after he was found guilty of running an extensive bank-fraud and identity-theft operation centered on home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).
Gatekeepers News reports that the conviction followed a trial earlier this year, during which prosecutors detailed how Adekoya operated under numerous aliases, including Ace G., Broda, Legendary, Santa, Santana, Sammy LaBanco, Sean Maison, and King_maison. He has held lawful permanent resident status in the US since 2004.
John Sarcone, acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, described Adekoya as a fraudster who “abused the privilege of lawful permanent resident status to steal the identities of innocent Americans so he could live lavishly in our country, without an ounce of remorse”.
According to the US attorney general’s office in the Northern District of New York, the case first emerged in May 2022, when Broadview Federal Credit Union in Albany reported a series of withdrawals that appeared to be impersonation-style, prompting an FBI investigation.
Authorities said the inquiry later exposed Adekoya as the coordinator of a coast-to-coast criminal network, eventually leading to the prosecution of 13 additional accomplices, all of whom admitted guilt.
Prosecutors said Adekoya was arrested on December 12, 2023, after federal agents attempted to search his upscale New Jersey apartment. They told the court that he erased the primary phone used in the scheme moments before the search, though investigators still recovered numerous burner phones linked to the fraud.
Agents also seized Rolex watches, a Tiffany engagement ring worth $51,000, luxury fashion items, and about $26,000 in one of the accounts used to clean the proceeds, all of which have since been forfeited.
During the trial, the government argued that Adekoya spent years scouring publicly available financial data to identify Americans with substantial equity in their HELOCs.
They said he then acquired social security numbers and other personal identifiers through encrypted platforms such as Telegram, passing the information to managers he recruited nationwide. Fake driver’s licences were also distributed to lower-level recruits who posed as bank customers to carry out withdrawals.
According to prosecutors, Adekoya relied on encrypted communications, disposable phones, and accounts opened in other people’s names to disguise his involvement, while also spending part of the proceeds to fund travel, rental cars, and forged documents for his network.
Craig L. Tremaroli, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the Albany field office, said Adekoya devoted nearly 20 years to creating a massive criminal network that stole from hard-working Americans. He added that the sentence ensures Adekoya will spend the next two decades of his life in federal prison.
During sentencing, US district judge Mae A. D’Agostino described Adekoya as “a perpetual thief” and a “flagrant serial offender” who has “orchestrated increasingly sophisticated felony identity-theft and fraud offences since he started his criminal career in 2008 at the age of 22”. The judge also sentenced more than ten of his co-conspirators, giving each varying prison terms.
Adekoya will additionally serve five years of supervised release, pay over $2.2 million in restitution, and make a $1,100 special assessment. He will face deportation once he completes his prison sentence.
