PA Man Admits Bank Fraud Conspiracy that Operated in South Jersey

A man from the suburbs of Philadelphia has admitted his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted 12 financial institutions in South Jersey and Pennsylvania.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger says 48-year-old Olugbenga Oyedele of Collingdale, PA, pleaded guilty late last week to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to court documents,

Oyedele was part of a multi-defendant, Nigerian-based, multi-layered criminal organization that engaged in a massive bank fraud conspiracy [in] New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island and other states from June 2016 to June 2020. Members of the group acquired numerous stolen business checks that were stolen from the United States mail, altered the payee on the checks to a fraudulent name and deposited the checks into bank accounts that had been opened with forged foreign passport documents and fraudulent U.S. visas that matched the names on the stolen checks. Once the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts – but before the checks had cleared – the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts.

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Just how big was the scheme? Sellinger says members of the organization used over 400 fraudulent accounts and the total loss to the banks is around $6 million.

When he is sentenced on June 1st, Oyedele faces up to 30 years behind bars and a $1 million fine.