The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nebraska announced on Thursday that Kayode, a fugitive previously on the FBI’s Most Wanted Cyber Criminal List, is accused of involvement in a business email compromise (BEC) scheme that defrauded businesses in Nebraska and beyond of more than $6 million between January 2015 and September 2016. The case, filed in Omaha in August 2019, is related to the illegal activity.

In April 2023, Kayode was arrested in Ghana following a U.S. extradition request. Ghanaian authorities complied with the request and handed him over to FBI agents, who transported him to Nebraska. Kayode made his initial appearance on December 11, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson, who ordered his detention pending trial.

The indictment reveals that Kayode’s co-conspirators impersonated high-ranking executives from targeted companies, using spoofed email accounts to deceive employees into wiring large sums of money. Kayode allegedly provided bank account details to these individuals, facilitating the transfer of funds into accounts controlled by him and others. These accounts were linked to victims of internet romance scams, who were coerced into transferring the funds.

Several co-conspirators have already been convicted. Adewale Aniyeloye, a fraudster who sent the fraudulent emails, was sentenced to 96 months in prison in February 2019 and ordered to pay restitution of $1,570,938.05. Pelumi Fawehinimi, who assisted in facilitating the bank accounts, received a 72-month sentence in March 2019, along with a restitution order of $1,014,159.60. Onome Ijomone, a romance scammer, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay $508,934.40 in restitution following his extradition from Poland in January 2020. Alex Ogunshakin, another co-conspirator who provided bank accounts, was sentenced to 45 months in October 2024 after his extradition from Nigeria.

FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel commented on the case, stating, "Today, Abiola Kayode is the second of those co-conspirators to be extradited to stand trial in Nebraska. Our message to the remaining four co-conspirators: we are coming for you." He emphasized the FBI’s commitment to dismantling cyber-criminal groups targeting U.S. citizens.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with substantial assistance from the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, and with significant cooperation from Ghanaian law enforcement agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, Ghana Police Service – INTERPOL, and the Ghana Immigration Service.