Participant in West Africa fraud sentenced

charges against Bolorunduro and another conspirator, Adnan Ibrahim, who lives in Duquesne.

Bolorunduro, Shitu and Ibrahim have all pleaded guilty. Mr. Nyamekye is set to go to trial in August.

In addition to the Maryland theft, the FBI said the group also stole $212,661 from the sale of a home in Massachusetts and $235,058 from the sale of land in Charlotte.

Bolorunduro, a naturalized citizen who served in the U.S. military reserves from 2012 to 2015, was involved in laundering the proceeds from the Maryland and Charlotte swindles.

“There is no excuse for the pain I caused the victims,” he told the judge. “Please, temper justice with mercy.”

A father of three with twins on the way, he said he is the sole provider for his family. He said he wanted to stay out of jail and earn a legitimate living to provide for his children.

“I’m pleading for a second chance,” he said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Hallowell said Bolorunduro, who is also awaiting sentencing in Georgia in a theft and forgery case, was the linchpin in the fraud schemes and deserves prison in the guideline range of 63 to 78 months.

“This was not an aberration,” he said.

In the Maryland transaction on April 29, 2016, Bolorunduro received an instant message from Shitu containing Shitu’s Citizens Bank account.

Bolorunduro forwarded that account information to a conspirator in West Africa.

About 20 minutes later, a fraudulent fax containing Shitu’s account information was sent to the victim’s settlement company in Maryland purporting to be from the sellers and telling the settlement company to wire the money to a new account, which was actually Shitu’s.

Once the money was in Shitu’s account, Bolorunduro directed Shitu to travel to various Citizen Bank branches to buy cashier’s checks. Bolorunduro then sent one check for $104,000 to someone in New Jersey and three others totaling $131,000, payable to fake names, to himself in Georgia.

In the North Carolina case, he deposited $20,000 of the stolen $235,000 into a business bank account he opened using a fake Nigerian passport in a false name.

Judge Schwab allowed Bolorunduro to report to federal prison by July 10. In the meantime, he faces sentencing June 10 in suburban Atlanta.