Nigerian National Sentenced For Defrauding Colorado Woman In Romance Scheme

DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Adetomiwa Seun Akindele, age 37, a Nigerian national who had been residing in Minnesota prior to his arrest, has been sentenced to 71 months in federal prison, ordered to pay $1,692,945 in restitution, and a forfeiture money judgement in the same amount after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Upon serving his sentence, Akindele will be deported to Nigeria.

According to the plea agreement, beginning in January 2018, and continuing until October 2018, Akindele posed as a wealthy Italian American businessman, "Frank Labato," on a dating website, where he met a widowed Colorado woman. In February 2018, Akindele began emailing the victim, and in March 2018, the two began exchanging telephone calls. During these communications, Akindele provided the victim with additional false details about his personal and work background, images, and photos, to substantiate his fictitious persona of "Frank." In March 2018, Akindele represented to the victim that he had encountered a financial crisis related to his purported work abroad for which he claimed to need money, funds, and assistance from the victim. At Akindele's direction, the victim opened a cryptocurrency exchange account, where she eventually wired over $1.6 million dollars as directed by Akindele. From there, Akindele converted the money into various cryptocurrencies, laundered it across multiple crypto exchanges and then converted it back into U.S. dollars and deposited it into his own bank accounts. Akindele fraudulently represented to the victim that he would repay her for the requested "loans" to his business. Over the course of the scheme, Akindele executed three fraudulent "promissory notes" to reassure the victim that she would be repaid.

"This sentence both serves justice to the victim and helps prevent this individual from scamming someone else," said United States Attorney Peter McNeilly. "This case should be a reminder to the public to be cautious when engaging with people they meet online - especially when those people are asking for money."

"Romance scammers are relentless and cunning, preying on trust and emotion to exploit victims," said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek. "This was an egregious case, and through relentless investigative work the perpetrator was tracked down and brought to justice."

United States District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney presided over the sentencing.

The FBI Denver Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Martha A. Paluch handled the prosecution.

Case number: 22-cr-00326-CNS