Four Nigerian Nationals have been extradited to the United States to face wire fraud and identity theft charges in Florida.
US Attorney Roger Handberg announced the extraditions of Akinola Taylor of the United Kingdom, Olayemi Adafin of the United Kingdom, Olakunle Oyebanjo of the United Kingdom, and Kazeem Olanrewaju Runsewe of Sweden.
These individuals have been charged in Florida with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, filing false claims with the United States, theft of public money or property, and aggravated identity theft.
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Taylor, Adafin, and Runsewe were arrested on November 30, 2022, and Oyebanjo was arrested on December 2, 2022.
Taylor, Adafin, and Oyebanjo were apprehended in London, United Kingdom, at the request of the United States, and Runswewe was apprehended in Malmo, Sweden.
In connection with the arrests, foreign authorities searched Taylor and Runsewe’s residences.
These individuals first appeared in the Middle District of Florida in May and June 2023. Another related defendant, Ogunlana Oluwarotimi of Texas, was arrested in Texas in January 2023 and is currently pending trial.
If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud conspiracies and additional penalties for the remaining counts.
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According to their indictments, Taylor and Runsewe obtained unauthorized access to United States businesses’ computer servers, participated in stealing from those servers the personally identifying information (PII) of U.S. residents, and used that information to file false and fraudulent IRS Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns (“Form(s) 1040”) seeking income tax refunds from the IRS.
Adafin, Oyebajno, Ogunlana, and others assisted in the collection of fraud proceeds directed to prepaid debit cards in their possession or to addresses or bank accounts they controlled or to which they had access and transferred a share of the fraud proceeds to other conspirators.
One of the places that Taylor and Runsewe had obtained unauthorized access to computer servers was the xDedic Marketplace, a website that operated for years and was used to sell access to compromised computers worldwide and the personal information of U.S. residents.
The xDedic administrators strategically maintained servers all over the world to facilitate the operation of the website.
The xDedic Marketplace was taken down as part of coordinated, global enforcement operations led by the FBI Tampa Division, the IRS-CI Tampa Field Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
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