Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that OLUSEUN MARTINS OMOLE, aka “Seun Omole,” pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his participation in a widespread scheme to defraud thousands of victims in the United States and elsewhere of thousands of consumer electronics and other goods totalling more than $12 million. Omole pled guilty before U.S. Judge Katharine H. Parker.
According to the allegations contained in the indictment and complaint, the plea agreement, and other public filings and statements made in court:
From at least in or about February 2018 through at least in or about March 2023, Omole participated in a criminal enterprise based in Nigeria (the “Enterprise”), which orchestrated various scams to defraud thousands of victims in the United States and elsewhere of more than $12 million in consumer electronics, including smartphones, smartwatches, laptops, and tablets, among other items. The scams perpetrated by the members of the Enterprise included (i) romance scams, in which Enterprise members sent electronic communications to victims feigning romantic intentions, gained their trust and affection, and took advantage of that goodwill to induce victims into sending consumer electronics and other money or property to Omole; (ii) online marketplace scams, in which Enterprise members sent electronic communications to victims feigning interest in buying consumer electronics, falsely represented to the victim that the items had been paid for, and instructed the victim to send the consumer electronics to Omole; and (iii) employment scams, in which Enterprise members posted phony jobs online and informed unwitting victims that they were hired before instructing victims to send electronics to OMOLE under the guise that those electronics were needed for the job (together, the “Fraudulent Electronics Scams”).
