Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Olumide Babafemi Ogunmakinwa, age 47, of Brandywine, Maryland, today to 28 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a bank fraud conspiracy.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Postal Inspector in Charge Gary R. Barksdale of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Michalko of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office.
According to Ogunmakinwa’s plea agreement, between February 2011 and March 2011, Ogunmakinwa and his co-defendants created counterfeit checks and stole money using misappropriated bank account information and the personal identifying information of individuals without their knowledge or consent. Specifically, co-conspirator Nathan Silla and other co-conspirators opened bank accounts at financial institutions in their own names, in false names, in the name of a spouse and in the names of corporations they controlled. Silla and the co-conspirators obtained checks from victim individuals and corporations, which they washed to remove the actual payees’ names listed on the checks, then printed the names of a conspirator, false names of a conspirator, or a company controlled by a conspirator onto the washed checks. Ogunmakinwa and other co-conspirators then deposited these altered checks into accounts controlled by conspirators, including accounts controlled by Ogunmakinwa. In addition, Silla and other co-conspirators misappropriated the name and bank account numbers of victim individuals and companies by printing that information onto counterfeit checks, which Ogunmakinwa and others deposited into accounts that they controlled at various bank branches in Montgomery and Prince George’s County, Maryland, and in Washington, D.C., thereby drawing funds off of the victims’ accounts. The conspirators then wrote checks on the accounts that contained victim funds, and either cashed them or deposited those checks into other accounts they controlled.
Ogunmakinwa deposited, cashed, and wrote at least nine fraudulent checks totaling approximately $97,000. The offense involved approximately 10 victims.
Nathan Silla, age 40, of Glenn Dale, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and ordered to pay $331,499.21 in restitution.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Secret Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Christen A. Sproule and Jefferson M. Gray, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
