Olugbenga Lawal, a thirty-three year old Nigerian national residing in Indiana, has been sentenced to ten years and one month in prison following his August 2023 conviction on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of 18 USC § 1956(h). According to the evidence presented at trial, Lawal worked with an international criminal organization that defrauded US citizens and businesses, and laundered the proceeds of the fraud through US banks. As demonstrated at trial, in 2019 and 2020, Lawal received over $3.6 million, deposited the money in at least seven of the sixteen accounts he controlled at five different banks, later removing and disposing of the illicit funds. Some of the fraudulently-obtained money was used to purchase automobiles in the United States and export them to Nigeria, facilitating the repatriation of some of the criminal proceeds back to Nigeria.
An appeal of Lawal’s conviction was denied. Earlier, three co-conspirators pleaded guilty.
In addition to the prison sentence, the US District Court for the District of Delaware imposed a personal money judgment of $3,600,000, and ordered restitution of $1,460,875.