Nigerian Man Pleads Guilty to $1.5 Million Fraud of DoD Contractors

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Babatunde Aniyi, 33, of Lagos, Nigeria pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiracy to defraud U.S. defense contractors and impersonation of U.S. officers.

According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Aniyi and a co-conspirator in Nigeria, impersonated U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) officials using fake U.S. DoD email accounts and websites. The U.S. based co-conspirators would order computers and smart phones in the name of U.S. DoD officials and divert the packages to Nigeria. Two of the U.S.-based co-conspirators, Solomon Oyesanya and Oludayo Edgal, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and were sentenced to sixty and twenty-seven months in prison, respectively.  According to court documents, losses caused by the conspiracy exceed $1.5 million. 

Aniyi was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 11, 2014, and was arrested in India in November 2015, while visiting to attend a course on computer hacking.  Aniyi was extradited to the United States in July 2016. Aniyi faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison when sentenced on February 3, 2017. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jeffery Thorpe, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Cyber Field Office; and Gordon B. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maya D. Song and Kellen S. Dwyer are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:14-cr-311.