RICHMOND, Va. – Ayodele Adewale Onasanya, 32, and Joan Marsh, 41, of Queens, New York, were sentenced yesterday for their roles in a sophisticated scheme that involved fraudulently accessing home equity lines of credit and credit card accounts.  Onasanya received 87 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release.  Marsh was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release.  Both defendants were ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $349,538.54 to the banks that lost money as a result of their fraudulent scheme. 

            Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson.  Onasanya pled guilty on September 19, 2011, to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud.  Marsh was convicted by a federal jury on September 21, 2011 of twelve counts, including Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud, Bank Fraud, Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments, and Money Laundering.  

            According to court records and evidence at trial, Marsh and Onasanya worked as the middlemen in a sophisticated scheme whereby certain co-conspirators would fraudulently access home equity lines of credit and credit card accounts, and would transfer large amounts of money from those accounts into “money mule” bank accounts that were under the control of the co-conspirators.  The money mules would withdraw the fraudulent proceeds in cash, and the cash would be shared among the conspirators. 

            The evidence showed that Marsh’s role in the conspiracy was to recruit and supervise the money mules, and to accept the cash proceeds and distribute the cash among the conspirators.   Other co-conspirators, several of whom testified at trial, have been previously prosecuted in the Richmond and Alexandria divisions of the Eastern District of Virginia.   

            The evidence established that Onasanya was also involved in recruiting and supervising the money mules and also received cash proceeds to distribute to other conspirators.  In addition, Onasanya provided the bank information for the money mules to other conspirators, who accessed the victims’ financial accounts for use in fraudulently wiring the funds to the money mules.

            This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant United States Attorneys Michael C. Moore and Jamie L. Mickelson are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

            A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

 

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