Laundering $3.1m of scam proceeds through salvaged cars shipped to West Africa
In August 2026 a Nigerian national living in Houston was sentenced to 95 months in prison for leading a conspiracy that laundered more than $3.1 million in proceeds from business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud. The method was mundane and effective: buy used and salvaged cars with the stolen money, ship them to West Africa, and sell them there. One traced victim was a Puerto Rican renewable energy company tricked into wiring about $280,000.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States, Nigeria
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $3.1 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Business email compromise, Romance scams, Job and task scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- Oluwasegun Baiyewu, 40, a Nigerian national living in Houston, Texas, was sentenced on 27 August 2026 to 95 months in prison.
- He pleaded to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
- The conspiracy laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds from business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud scams.
- He worked with at least six other co-conspirators in the United States and Nigeria between approximately May 2020 and October 2021.
- Coordination ran over encrypted messaging applications including WhatsApp.
- The method was purchasing salvaged cars with illicit proceeds and shipping them to Nigeria.
- One identified victim was a Puerto Rican renewable energy company tricked into wiring approximately $280,000 to accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
Why this case matters
It shows the join. The scam that took $280,000 from a renewable energy company in Puerto Rico was a business email compromise; the person sentenced here never sent that email. His job started once the money landed, and it is the part of the process that most coverage of BEC skips.
It also shows how ordinary the laundering can be. No mixers, no shell companies in a secrecy jurisdiction, no trade-based invoicing scheme. Salvaged cars, bought in the United States with stolen money and shipped to Nigeria to be sold. A car is a legitimate export with paperwork, a plausible buyer at the other end, and a value that survives the journey.
The three scams behind one conspiracy
The proceeds came from business email compromise, romance fraud and unemployment insurance fraud. That combination is worth noticing: it means the laundering network was not attached to one scheme. It was a service, taking money from whoever generated it.
This is the ordinary shape of the industry. The people who message victims, the people whose accounts receive the money and the people who convert it into something that can be sold are usually different people, often in different countries, connected by encrypted messaging and a share of the take.
What it tells you about the scheme
For a business, the practical lesson is at the other end of the timeline. Once money leaves on a wire and reaches a receiving account, the clock that matters is measured in hours — this money was on its way to a car auction, not sitting in an account waiting to be clawed back. IC3’s advice on BEC exists because of exactly this: contact the bank immediately, request a recall, and file the report the same day.
People named in the public record
- Oluwasegun Baiyewu — convicted
Sources
- Nigerian National Sentenced for Laundering $3.1M in Scam Proceeds. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Every fact above: defendant, sentence, date, amounts, method, co-conspirators, and the Puerto Rico victim.