On Monday, a man from Texas admitted targeting a St. Louis woman in a $1.2 million romance scam.
Rotimi Oladimeji, 37, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel to two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. He admitted in his plea to obtaining or trying to obtain more than $1.2 million from the woman.
Oladimeji admitted that in May of 2019, someone in Nigeria created a fake LinkedIn profile of a veterinarian and animal behaviorist who was purportedly a Belgian national living in St. Louis. They used a picture of a German man.
In August of that year, a St. Louis woman created an online dating profile. Several months later, Oladimeji and others began communicating with the victim, using the Belgian identity. The perpetrators of the fraud made plans to meet the victim but never followed through. On one occasion, they left her waiting at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Oladimeji then told the victim that the Belgian was taking a business trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One day after his alleged arrival, Oladimeji texted the victim, claiming that he needed help with “an urgent business issue,” and $15,000, the plea says. That began a pattern of texts requesting electronic transfers of cash from the victim between October 2019 and March 2020. In total, the victim sent or attempted to send $931,000 to her scammers in a mistaken belief that the Belgian would not be permitted to leave Dubai unless she paid, the plea says.
Oladimeji also had the victim send cash and cashier’s checks via FedEx to the Texas home of his co-defendant, Olumide Akrinmade, 37, of Richardson, Texas, his plea says. Oladimeji admitted recruiting Akrinmade and Adewale Adesanya, another Texas resident, to receive the finds, the plea says, in exchange for a cut of the money.
The victim sent about $314,000 to Texas that way, the plea says.
Oladimeji admitted to taking part of the money for his role in the scam. The majority went to other scammers in Nigeria and the United States, the plea says.
The scam began to unravel on February 3, 2021, when Oladimeji returned to the United States from a trip to Nigeria. Upon his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, Homeland Security Investigations agents inspected two phones belonging to Oladimeji and discovered text messages from and to his victim.
Each count to which Oladimeji pleaded guilty carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. Oladimeji is scheduled to be sentenced in March 23. He will also be ordered to repay the money and could face deportation.
Akrinmade’s case is pending. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud.
Adesanya pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Dallas in April and was sentenced in September to four years in prison. He was also ordered to repay $1.5 million that resulted from various frauds.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.
