Nigerian Man Convicted of $7.5m Charity Fraud in US

A 32-year-old Nigerian national, Olusegun Adejorin, has been convicted of defrauding two charitable organisations of over $7.5 million in the United States. Adejorin was found guilty of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorised access to a protected computer after a six-day trial in Maryland federal court.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Adejorin targeted a charity in Maryland and another in New York between June and August 2020. He allegedly accessed employee email accounts, impersonated staff, and manipulated financial transactions to divert funds.

The DOJ stated that Adejorin registered spoofed domain names to pose as employees of one charity, requesting withdrawals from the other. He also accessed emails to falsely confirm the withdrawal requests, ultimately causing over $7.5 million to be sent to unrelated accounts.

Adejorin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of the five counts of wire fraud, five years for unauthorised access to a protected computer, and a mandatory two years for aggravated identity theft. Sentencing is scheduled for April 10, 2026.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide DOJ initiative focused on immigration enforcement, organised crime, and violent crime. The FBI’s Baltimore Field Office investigated the case, with Assistant US Attorneys Joshua Rosenthal and Darren S. Gardner prosecuting.