A federal judge sentenced Gedeon “Papa Kwam” Agbeyome, a 31-year-old illegal alien from Togo residing in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Mar. 20 for his involvement in a money laundering conspiracy that resulted in nearly $3 million in losses.
Agbeyome received a six-year prison sentence followed by one year of supervised release for conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox also ordered him to pay $2,938,424.65 in restitution and issued a preliminary forfeiture order of $2.8 million.
According to court documents, Agbeyome participated in the scheme from June 2021 through May 2023 by receiving at least $2.8 million from business email compromise fraud schemes. He used bank accounts opened under shell entities and the identities of real people to receive and launder the proceeds, keeping a portion for himself.
The investigation revealed that Agbeyome was part of a larger conspiracy involving at least 14 individuals who created shell companies without legitimate business activities or employees. These entities were used to open bank accounts that received fraudulent funds obtained through deceptive emails sent to victim organizations, which believed they were paying contractors or vendors.
Agbeyome admitted he took part in an underlying wire-fraud conspiracy targeting a trust established for environmental remediation at a California manufacturing facility. He used stolen personal information from three individuals to open multiple bank accounts and conceal his connection to financial transactions, including those conducted via CashApp.
After obtaining the fraudulent funds, Agbeyome carried out multiple rapid financial transactions designed to hide the origin and ownership of the money and further promote ongoing fraud schemes. Communication among co-conspirators occurred through meetings, phone calls, Telegram, WhatsApp, and text messages.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes commended Homeland Security Investigations' Document and Benefit Fraud/Mid-Atlantic El Dorado Task Force as well as IRS-Criminal Investigation and EPA Office of Inspector General for their roles in the investigation. "Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry Gruber, Bijon A. Mostoufi, Jared M. Beim, and recognized Paralegal Specialist Joanna B.N. Huber, for her valuable assistance."
