Bronx Man Sentenced To 13 Years For Participating In International Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BASHIRU GANIYU was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to 13 years in prison for his role in a criminal enterprise that defrauded individuals and businesses across the U.S. of millions of dollars. In April 2024, GANIYU was convicted following a jury trial of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to receive stolen money, and receipt of stolen money.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "The defendant participated in a criminal enterprise that preyed on elderly people and other unsuspecting victims, deceiving them into sending millions of dollars in romance scams and other schemes. The defendant's conduct devastated victims around the country, including many who were looking for companionship. Today's sentence holds the defendant accountable for his conduct."

As reflected in the Indictment, court filings, and the evidence presented at trial:

From in or about 2020 through in or about 2022, a criminal enterprise (the "Enterprise") based in Ghana committed a series of romance scams and business email compromises against individuals located across the U.S., including in the Southern District of New York. The Enterprise conducted the romance scams by using electronic messages sent via email, text messaging, or online dating websites that deluded victims, many of whom were vulnerable older men and women who lived alone, into believing the victim was in a romantic relationship with a fake identity assumed by members of the Enterprise. Once members of the Enterprise had gained the trust of the victims using the fake identity, they used false pretenses to cause the victims to wire money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when in fact the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise like GANIYU. The Enterprise also used business email compromises to trick individuals and businesses to send funds that the victims believed were being sent to legitimate business counterparties but were actually sent to accounts controlled by members of the Enterprise.

GANIYU received money sent by more than 40 victims of the Enterprise under false pretenses into 10 bank accounts held in the name of his purported business located in the Bronx, New York. After receiving nearly $12 million in stolen funds, GANIYU laundered these criminal proceeds to other members of the Enterprise or abroad at the direction of his co-conspirators.

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In addition to the prison term, GANIYU, 39, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $11,744,115.07 and pay restitution in the amount of $7,675,785.32.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danielle Kudla and Matthew Weinberg are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Lucy Gavin.