A 27-year-old Nigerian man has sentenced
to two years in jail in the United States for
bilking East Texans and others out of nearly
$1 million.
Fawaz Olarenwaju Animasaun is one of
two people named in a federal indictment
for charges of aggravated identity theft and
conspiracy to commit bank fraud, as well as
aiding and abetting.
Animasaun was arrested in November
2016 when he arrived New York from
Ghana, by way of Amsterdam, on a Delta
Airlines international flight 9348. airport.
Few weeks later, he was sent to the Gregg
County Jail awaiting his turn in a federal
courtroom.
Under a plea agreement finalized in May,
Animasaun is serving three years in prison
on the conspiracy charge. He is ordered to
pay $930,737.60 in restitution to three
financial companies.
Court documents show Animasaun will pay
$135,989 to East Texas-based Austin Bank
as part of that restitution.
In addition, the agreement states that
Northern Trust Company is due $46,800
and UMB Financial Corporation is due $
747,948.60.
Animasaun and his alleged accomplice
Idowu Temitope Omolade, also from
Nigeria, are believed to be involved in at
least 21 fraudulent wire transfers between
April and August of 2012. A rare footnote
made by a U.S. Attorney in the 21-page
federal indictment reads:
“Because the purpose of this complaint is
to set forth only those facts necessary to
establish probable cause to arrest, I have
not described all the relevant facts and
circumstances of which I am aware.”
The indictment says the purpose of the
conspiracy was to “… unlawfully obtain
money through unauthorized transfers of
funds from bank accounts and brokerage
accounts.”
The Nigerian men allegedly impersonated
actual account holders in emails exchanged
with banking and financial services
personnel. In those email conversations,
the indictment says the suspects “harvested
details about the target accounts, including
account balances, and obtained wire
transfer instructions.”
With those details, the suspects were then
able to initiate a wire transfer without the
account holder’s knowledge or
authorization.
The indictment said that the money was
moved through a series of accounts using
“money mules,” or people who may or may
not have known they were assisting in the
transfer.
Other financial institutions affected include
Wells Fargo, UMB Bank, UMB Financial
Corporation, Northern Trust and Northern
Trust Corporation.
Animasaun was transferred out of the
Gregg County Jail on June 28, in the custody
of the U.S. Marshals. Federal Bureau of
Prisons records show he is now in a
detention center in Brooklyn, New York,
and will remain there until June 2019. He
could have received up to 30 years in
prison for each count of the indictment.
The indictment states that Animasaun kept
Omolade informed of the progress, and
told him when to expect specific wire
transfers. Omolade is not listed as a federal
inmate, and there is no record of an arrest.
Aliases listed in the indictment include
“Michael Chernick” and “CLICKIDONLINE.”
Animasaun is listed in the indictment with
four aliases, including “Larry Hoover” and
“Slim Husstle Olanraywaju.”
