Nigerian Man Jailed 8 Years in US for Stealing $7.5M from Charities

A 32-year-old Nigerian national, Olusegun Adejorin, has been sentenced to eight years in a U.S. federal prison for orchestrating a business email compromise scheme that diverted more than $7.5 million from two charitable organizations. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in the District of Maryland, follows a jury conviction on charges including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized access to protected computers.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Rosenthal and Darren Gardner on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly Hayes and FBI Baltimore Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul announced the sentence, highlighting the collaborative efforts of multiple agencies in securing Adejorin’s extradition and prosecution.

Adejorin’s fraudulent activities targeted two nonprofit organizations. The first, based in Maryland, provided investment services to other charities. The second, located in New York, was defrauded after Adejorin gained access to employee email accounts and impersonated staff to authorize fraudulent financial transactions. According to court records, Adejorin registered spoofed domain names to pose as employees of the New York charity and successfully tricked the Maryland-based organization into transferring more than $7.5 million to accounts not belonging to the intended charity.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation extradited Adejorin from Ghana to the United States in August 2024. He was convicted by a federal jury in December 2025 after a six-day trial. The investigation involved the FBI Baltimore Field Office, the FBI Legal Attaché in Accra, Ghana, and several Ghanaian law enforcement agencies. The extradition was facilitated through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs in coordination with Ghana’s Office of the Attorney-General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayes praised the investigative work of the FBI Baltimore Field Office and international partners, emphasizing the commitment to holding cybercriminals accountable across borders. The case underscores the ongoing threat of business email compromise schemes to charitable and financial institutions, as well as the importance of cross-agency collaboration in combating transnational fraud.

Adejorin will serve 96 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. The sentence reflects the severity of the financial harm caused to the charitable organizations and the deliberate nature of the fraudulent scheme.

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