A US court has convicted Oluwole Adegboruwa, a Nigerian US-based man, and his accomplice, Enrique Isong, of masterminding a multi-million dollar dark web drug trafficking operation.
The two were sentenced to a combined 40 years in prison, as revealed in a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah on Friday.
Sentencing and Financial Accountability
Adegboruwa received a 30-year prison sentence, lifetime supervised release, and the forfeiture of over $20 million.
This $20 million forfeiture stands among the largest in the history of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah, holding the defendant financially accountable for his crimes.
His co-defendant, Isong, was sentenced on October 23, 2024, to ten years of imprisonment and three years of supervised release.
The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Jill N. Parish following a jury conviction in May 2024 for multiple federal crimes, including conspiracy to distribute oxycod’one and money laundering.
Details of the Operation
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that from October 2016 through May 2019, Adegboruwa sold more than 300,000 oxycodone pills on dark web marketplaces to customers across the United States.
The jury found that Adegboruwa organized and supervised a continuing criminal enterprise that earned approximately $9,112,471 in drug proceeds.
He admitted to controlling sales on the dark web, managing monetary accounts, and initiating the drug sales operation.
Man Arrested in US for Alleged $10 Million Fraud
Legit.ng reported that Yomi Jones Olayeye, a 40-year-old Nigerian from Lagos, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
He faces charges for allegedly participating in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits. Olayeye, also known as “Sabbie,” is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
