Man Sentenced For $7.5M Scam Targeting MD Charity

GREENBELT, MD — A Nigerian national was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for orchestrating a business email scam that stole more than $7.5 million from two charitable organizations, including one in Maryland, federal prosecutors said.

Olusegun Adejorin, 32, was sentenced to 96 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a protected computer, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland said in a release.

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A federal jury convicted Adejorin on all charges in December following a six-day trial. He was extradited from Ghana to the United States in August 2024.

Prosecutors said Adejorin carried out the scheme between June and August 2020, targeting a Maryland charitable organization that provided investment services to other organizations and a New York charity whose funds it managed. Prosecutors did not identify the organization.

Adejorin registered fake domain names and impersonated employees of the New York organization to request withdrawals from its accounts, according to prosecutors. He also gained access to the Maryland organization's email accounts and used them to falsely confirm the withdrawal requests.

The scheme ultimately caused more than $7.5 million belonging to the New York charity to be transferred from the Maryland organization to bank accounts that did not belong to the intended recipient, prosecutors said.

The FBI Baltimore Field Office investigated the case with assistance from authorities in Ghana and other agencies.