A Maryland man pleaded guilty Monday to receipt of stolen money, for his role in a scheme that defrauded more than 200 victims, many of them elderly, of at least $2.5 million.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Oluwabamishe Awolesi, also known as Oluwabamise Johnson, 29, of Beltsville, Maryland, admitted that one victim of the scheme transferred a total of $90,000 into Awolesi’s checking account in September 2018. He kept $12,000 of the total and forwarded the rest to others involved in the scheme.
Awolesi lived in Huntington during his involvement in the scheme. Three indictments targeting the scheme allege that from 2016 to 2020, multiple defendants participated in a series of romance and other online scams designed to coerce vulnerable victims into sending money to various bank accounts controlled by them.
The indictments describe romance scams as online schemes that target individuals looking for romantic partners, friendship, and other close personal and business relationships on dating websites and other social media platforms.
Awolesi, a citizen of Nigeria and the United States, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,00 fine. As part of his plea, Awolesi agreed to pay $90,000 in restitution.