US Court Hands Nigerian 8-Year Prison Term Over $7.5M Charity Email Scam

​A federal court in the United States has sentenced 32-year-old Nigerian national Olusegun Samson Adejorin to 96 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release, for executing a sophisticated cyber fraud scheme that siphoned $7.5 million from major non-profit organizations.

​U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang handed down the sentence following a multi-jurisdictional investigation and a subsequent trial that exposed how digital deception can target philanthropic institutions. Adejorin was found guilty by a federal jury in December 2025 on multiple counts, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized access to a protected computer.

​Anatomy of a Multi-Million Dollar Breach

​The case centers on a classic Business Email Compromise (BEC) operation executed between June and August 2020. Federal prosecutors established that Adejorin targeted two separate non-profits: a Maryland-based charitable organization that provided investment management services (Victim 1) and a New York-based charity (Victim 2).

​Utilizing credential-harvesting tools and registering spoofed domain names that mimicked legitimate organizational web addresses, Adejorin covertly breached employee email accounts. He impersonated staff members from the New York entity to issue high-value fund withdrawal requests to the Maryland investment firm. To maintain the illusion of legitimacy and evade internal controls, he manipulated compromised inboxes by hiding trail notifications and utilizing breached credentials from both organizations to falsely approve the wire transfers.

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​Through these coordinated digital impersonations, more than $7.5 million meant for charitable missions was diverted into unauthorized bank accounts controlled by the conspirators.

​International Manhunt and Extradition

​The resolution of the case highlights close cross-border cooperation between West African and U.S. law enforcement agencies. Following initial tracking by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Adejorin was apprehended in Ghana in December 2023 by local authorities.

​He remained in custody abroad until August 2024, when the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs—aided by Ghanaian ministries, the Economic and Organized Crime Office, and INTERPOL—secured his extradition to the United States to face trial.

​U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly O. Hayes praised the collaborative efforts of the FBI Baltimore Field Office and international partners, including the FBI Legal Attaché in Accra, for bringing the fugitive to justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Rosenthal and Darren Gardner prosecuted the federal matter.