Nigerian Sentenced To 8 Years In US Prison Over $7.5m Charity Fraud

A Nigerian national, Olusegun Adejorin, has been sentenced to eight years in a United States federal prison for his role in a business email compromise scheme that defrauded two charitable organisations of more than $7.5 million.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang sentenced the 32-year-old to 96 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Adejorin was convicted of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and unauthorised access to a protected computer to obtain information.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation extradited him from Ghana to the United States in August 2024 to face trial. Following a six-day trial in December 2025, a federal jury found him guilty on all charges.

According to evidence presented in court, Adejorin carried out the fraud between June and August 2020, targeting two charities, one based in Maryland and the other in New York.

Prosecutors said Adejorin gained unauthorised access to employees’ email accounts and impersonated them to initiate and approve financial transactions.

He also registered spoofed domain names to impersonate employees of the New York-based charity and request withdrawals of its funds from the Maryland organisation.

Adejorin subsequently gained fraudulent access to email accounts belonging to employees of the Maryland organisation and used them to send messages falsely confirming the withdrawal requests.

The scheme resulted in more than $7.5 million belonging to the New York charity being transferred from the Maryland organisation to bank accounts unrelated to the intended recipient.

US Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly O. Hayes announced the sentence alongside FBI Baltimore Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul.

The US Attorney’s Office commended the FBI Baltimore Field Office and Ghanaian authorities for their roles in investigating the case and securing Adejorin’s extradition.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also worked with Ghanaian authorities to facilitate the extradition.