Nigerian Luxury Car Boss Jailed 30 Months for $359K Email Scam Laundering

HOUSTON — A Nigerian national who ran a Houston luxury car and lifestyle company was sentenced Thursday to 2½ years in federal prison for acting as a money mule in a sophisticated business email compromise scheme that bilked more than 10 victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Edikan Adiakpan, 35, of Houston, pleaded guilty in May to illegal money transmission. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered him to serve 30 months behind bars, followed immediately by three years of supervised release.

Between 2020 and 2022, Adiakpan used Akama Lifestyle — a company he controlled and marketed as a high-end car service catering to clients seeking exotic vehicles — to receive and move fraud proceeds.He took a cut of the transferred funds as his fee, authorities said.

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The money originated from fraudsters who sent “spoofed” emails that appeared to come from legitimate suppliers and creditors.

Victims, believing they were paying real business partners, wired payments to accounts controlled by the scammers instead.

One hard-hit victim was a small utility trailer company in Mississippi. Company representatives submitted a victim impact statement read in court describing the damage after they were tricked into wiring $927,080 they thought was going to their trailer supplier.

Portions of that money reached Adiakpan. He deposited and cashed several cashier’s checks made payable to himself and his exotic car company that contained $359,000 of the stolen funds.

Adiakpan, who held temporary legal status in the United States at the time of his June 2025 arrest, is originally from Nigeria. He had earlier been indicted on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy before pleading guilty to the illegal money transmission count.

A co-defendant in the scheme, fellow Nigerian national Ayobami Omoniyi, 27, was sentenced in March to 32 months in federal prison for his role and ordered to pay more than $202,000 in restitution. He faces removal from the United States after serving his term.

FBI Houston, its Bryan Resident Agency, and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the probe. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek prosecuted the case.

Business email compromise schemes remain one of the most costly forms of cyber-enabled fraud targeting companies of all sizes.

Authorities continue to urge businesses to verify payment requests through secondary channels and to treat unexpected changes in wiring instructions with extreme caution.