U.S court convicts Nigerian for $7.5m charity fraud

A 32-year-old Nigerian national, Olusegun Adejorin, has been convicted by a U.S. federal court for defrauding two charitable organisations of more than $7.5 million and now faces up to 20 years in prison.

In a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and cited by PUNCH Online on Saturday, Adejorin—who was extradited from Ghana—was found guilty after a six-day trial in a Maryland federal court. The charges included wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and unauthorised access to a protected computer.

According to the DOJ, the offences were committed between June and August 2020, during which Adejorin targeted one charity based in Maryland and another in New York. Investigators said he gained access to employee email accounts, impersonated staff members and manipulated financial communications to divert funds.

The department disclosed that Adejorin registered spoofed domain names to pose as employees of one charity and submitted fraudulent withdrawal requests to the other. He allegedly accessed internal emails to falsely confirm the transactions, resulting in more than $7.5 million being transferred to accounts not linked to either organisation.

U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes, alongside FBI Baltimore Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, praised the FBI for its investigation and commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Rosenthal and Darren S. Gardner for prosecuting the case.

The DOJ said Adejorin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the five wire fraud counts, up to five years for unauthorised access to a protected computer, and a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft, to be served consecutively. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 10, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang.

The department noted that actual sentences are typically guided by U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutory considerations, and may be lower than the maximum penalties.

The prosecution forms part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide DOJ initiative targeting immigration-related offences, organised crime and violent criminal activities.