Man who attempted to steal $2 million from Houston-area college sentenced to federal prison – Houston Public Media

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

A 45-year-old man accused of running a sophisticated cyber-security operation and attempting to steal nearly $2 million from a Houston-area community college was sentenced to serve seven years in a federal prison.

Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, in April pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

He’s accused of operating a business email compromise scam, which targets the trust businesses and institutions place in their daily operations, Dena King, U.S. Attorney for the West District of North Carolina said in a press release.

Adeagbo, from 2016 to 2018, conspired to participate in multiple scams in an attempt to steal more than $3 million from local government entities, construction companies and a local community college.

Adeagbo and his co-conspirators registered email addresses that looked similar to legitimate companies. They would then send emails from the addresses impersonating employees at those companies.

In 2018, a Houston-area community college wired more than $1.9 million to a bank account operated by Adeagbo. The college thought the payment was a legitimate business transaction for services they had requested to a construction company, according to court documents.

“Affiant learned that [the construction company] never authorized the email requesting updated payment information to [the college],” according to court documents.

Adeagbo and others also defrauded a North Carolina university of more than $1.9 million through the scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He was sentenced to serve seven years in a federal prison followed by a year of supervised release. He was ordered to pay more than $655,000 in restitution for his role in the scams.

King said the business email compromise scams have become an “epidemic with individuals and businesses suffering debilitating financial losses.”

“By exploiting this trust, fraudsters steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims,” King said. “This case demonstrates the commitment of my office and our law enforcement partners to pursue justice for those impacted by these schemes and to hold cybercriminals accountable, regardless of where they are operating from.”