Rhode Island Man Convicted of Bank Fraud Conspiracy that Operated in South Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Rhode Island man was convicted for his role in a bank fraud conspiracy that targeted financial institutions in southern New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Olayinka Peter Olaseinde, 42, of Providence, Rhode Island, was convicted on June 21, 2022, of one count of bank fraud conspiracy and three counts of bank fraud following a five-day bench trial before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

Olaseinde was part of a Nigerian-based, multi-layered criminal organization that engaged in a bank fraud conspiracy in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island, from June 2016 to March 2020. Members of the group acquired business checks that were stolen from the United States mail, altered the payee on the checks to a fraudulent name and deposited the checks into bank accounts that had been opened with counterfeit foreign passport documents and counterfeit U.S. visas that matched the names on the altered checks.  Members of the group also opened credit card and bank accounts using stolen personal information of real victims, took cash advances on these fraudulent credit card accounts, and deposited fraudulent checks into these identity theft bank accounts. After the banks credited all or a portion of the funds to the accounts, the defendants withdrew the funds from ATMs or purchased money orders, using debit cards associated with the fraudulent accounts.

Olaseinde’s role in the conspiracy included making deposits of stolen and altered, or otherwise fraudulent, checks into several of these accounts and making purchases and withdrawing funds from the accounts.

Each of the four counts on which he was convicted carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 27, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Bellmawr Office, Philadelphia Division Office, and Washington, D.C., Division Office, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood, Philadelphia Division, and Inspector in Charge Charles B. Wickersham, Washington Division Office; special agents of the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Cherry Hill Office, and Newark Division Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina; HSI  Philadelphia Division Office, under the Direction of Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker; HSI Maryland Division Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso, Baltimore, Maryland; HSI Rhode Island Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Millhollin, Boston Division Office; and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), under the direction of R. Mike Escott, Resident Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Resident Office, with the investigation leading to the conviction.

Five other conspirators have pleaded guilty; one of them has been sentenced by Judge Hillman and the others are awaiting sentencing. Charges against six other defendants remain pending.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick C. Askin and Daniel A. Friedman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

The charges and allegations contained in the pending complaints and indictments against the conspirators are merely accusations, and the defendants in those cases are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.