Lanham Man Sentenced To Over 3 Years In Prison For Using Stolen Personal Information To Buy Precious Metals

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Olusegun Adebiyi, age 42, of Lanham, Maryland, today to 39 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft arising from a fraud scheme to obtain precious metals using stolen personal information of two victims.  Judge Chasanow also entered an order that Adebiyi pay $122,500 in restitution.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to his plea, on July 3, 2013, Adebiyi and his co-schemers faxed a copy of a fraudulent Maryland driver’s license in the name of a victim to Gold Bullion International (GBI) to complete the process of opening a trading account.  Between July 23 and August 27, 2013, Adebiyi and his co-schemers fraudulently purchased precious metals from GBI worth $122,500 in the victim’s name, and caused GBI to deliver those precious metals to an address in Washington, D.C.  The payment was made by transferring money from the victim’s bank account without his knowledge.

Similarly, on September 26, 2013, Adebiyi and his co-schemers faxed a copy of a fraudulent Maryland driver’s license in the name of another victim to GBI to complete the process of opening a trading account in this second victim’s name.  The fax was sent from a store in College Park, Maryland and Adebiyi’s activities were captured on video.  Shortly thereafter, GBI requested that the documents be resubmitted.  On October 9, 2013, Adebiyi sent the same information to GBI from the same store which was also captured on video.  Thereafter, Adebiyi attempted to purchase precious metals worth $44,833.50 in the name of the second victim and attempted to cause GBI to deliver those items to an address in Washington, D.C.

On November 6, a controlled delivery of the precious metals to the Washington D.C. address was attempted through UPS.  Law enforcement observed the defendant drive into the area shortly before the delivery was scheduled.  The package was recalled because the delivery address was incomplete.  Law enforcement saw Adebiyi leave the area approximately 15 minutes after the package was recalled.  GBI, working with law enforcement, rescheduled the delivery for November 14, 2013. Law enforcement again observed Adebiyi drive into the area shortly before the delivery was scheduled.  The UPS driver went into the apartment building carrying a package and was observed exiting the building carrying the same package.  Law enforcement arrested Adebiyi as he was leaving and seized pieces of paper containing the UPS package tracking numbers for the November 14 delivery, the second victim’s identifying information and the UPS tracking numbers for the November 6 delivery.

The Maryland Identity Theft Working Group has been working since 2006 to foster cooperation among local, state, federal, and institutional fraud investigators and to promote effective prosecution of identity theft schemes by both state and federal prosecutors. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Working Group, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to work with financial institutions and businesses to address identity fraud, identify those who compromise personal identity information, and protect citizens from identity theft.

Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since the inception of FFETF in November 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 12,841 financial fraud cases against nearly 18,737 defendants including nearly 3,500 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan E. Foreman, who prosecuted the case.