NJ Man Gets 3 Years for NH Bank Fraud, Conspiracy

A New Jersey man was sentenced in U.S. District Court this week after being convicted of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Oluwaseun Adekoya, 29, of Sewaren, NJ, was sentenced to 37 months this week on the charges, according to U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas, District of New Hampshire.

According to a press statement, in the fall of 2013, Adekoya communicated online with an undercover agent about counterfeit ATM bank cards. The agent was posing as a criminal that had previously done business with Adekoya, a Nigerian national.

The two corresponded about the possibility of stealing about $960,000 from New Hampshire banks with the cards.

“The undercover agent and Adekoya had agreed that Adekoya would come to Manchester, NH and bring four ‘soldiers’ with him,” according to the statement, “and that all five of them would each take 40 counterfeit ATM cards and travel to ATMs in Manchester, under cover of darkness, and fraudulently withdraw almost a million dollars.”

On Oct. 1, 2013, the four “soldiers” flew to New Hampshire, went to the agreed upon location, and picked up what they thought were 200 counterfeit ATM bankcards. The next day, they proceeded to ATM machines and were arrested by federal agents.

Adekoya, who was still in New Jersey, was arrested at his home in Sewaren.

The four co-conspirators – Darrell Harris, Adebayo Adegbesan, Kamau Brown, and Aubrie Banks – all pled guilty before trial and two of them testified against Adekoya.

According to Kacavas, the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and FBI all assisted in investigating the case.

Caption: A file photo of Oluwaseun Adekoya, left, from NJ.com, after a fraud arrest in 2013. At right, the Rudman federal courthouse in Concord. Credit: Tony Schinella.