Nigerian fintech entrepreneurs sentenced to prison in the United States for money laundering totaling $167 million

By Adeleye Kunle

The top executives of Ping Express, a fintech company based in the United States, were sentenced to 27 months in prison for violating money laundering regulations.

Anslem Oshionebo and Opeyemi Odeyale, Nigerian fintech executives, pleaded guilty to violating money laundering rules after sending $167 million to Africa unchecked in less than three years.

While Oshionebo is the CEO, Oyedale is the Chief Operating Officer, and both are suspected of laundering $160 million to Nigeria.

The US Department of Justice revealed this over the weekend, adding that the Ping Express failed to obtain sufficient information about the sources or motivations of the funds involved in the transactions, or the customers initiating the transmissions.

It was also stated that some of the money sent to Nigeria was suspected to be the proceeds of internet fraud.

It was also stated that the company’s Information Technology/Business Development Manager, Aleoghena Okhumale, pleaded guilty to knowingly transmitting illegally obtained funds.

Oshionebo and Oyedale were both sentenced to 27 months in federal prison, but Okhumale received a 42-month sentence.

Ping Express also admitted to conducting money-transfer business in states where it was not licensed, such as Nevada, New Jersey, Utah, West Virginia, and Connecticut.

Furthermore, one Collins Orogun admitted last week, according to the DOJ, that he accepted a fee in exchange for transferring money for ‘romance scam’ fraudsters and other criminals.

In one case, an Indiana woman sent $15,000 to ‘Carson Jacks,’ a purported oil roughneck in the Gulf of Mexico she met online and fell in love with, after he told her he had malaria.

Another Indiana woman sent $6,300 to ‘Thomas Ken,’ a purported Irish ship captain she met online, to repair his ship.

Orogun received more than $1.3 million in cash, cashier’s checks, and wire transfers into several US bank accounts he controlled over the course of two years, and then quickly transferred more than $1 million of the funds to Africa via Ping Express.

“He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on January 23, 2023,” according to the statement.

The company, Ping Express, now faces five years of probation and a fine of up to $500,000. The date for sentencing has been set for December 19, 2022.

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