Another retirement plan cyber theft scheme has come to light—and the perpetrators sentenced.
This particular intrusion involved the Texas Employees Retirement System and the machinations of Olumide Bankole Morakinyo, 38, a Nigerian national residing in Canada, and Lukman Shina Aminu, a resident of New Hampshire, who created unauthorized accounts for participants in the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) internet portal.
The Scheme
According to court documents, personally identifiable information (PII) of various ERS participants was used to make changes to their accounts in the ERS internet portal. Bank deposit information on file in the system was changed to re-route retirement payments to debit cards controlled by Aminu, and then Aminu, who possessed the physical debit cards, would withdraw money under instructions from Morakinyo, subsequently transferring or monitoring that money at Morakinyo’s direction, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas.
The debit cards were also used for cash withdrawals and to purchase money orders for personal expenses and for buying used vehicles to be shipped overseas to Nigeria and Benin for resale. With these international automobile transactions, Morakinyo and his conspirators laundered the fraud proceeds by concealing the source of the funds and making the money appear to be legitimate income, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Sentence
Morakinyo was sentenced last week to eight years in prison and repayment of $975,863 in restitution to multiple victims for conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman also ordered that Morakinyo be placed on three years of supervised release after completing his prison term. Aminu, charged in a separate indictment, was sentenced on Dec. 18, 2019, to 51 months in prison.
“Today’s sentencing of Olumide Morakinyo highlights how seriously IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and our law enforcement partners take the issue of identity theft,” said IRS CI Special Agent in Charge Richard Goss of the Houston Field Office. “We will continue to pursue those criminals who prey on innocent victims, stealing their identities to promote tax and other frauds. This sentencing should send a clear message to would-be criminals, that you will be caught and you will be punished.”
The FBI, IRS CI and the DPS Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Galdo and Neeraj Gupta prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
