Charlotte, North Carolina – On Tuesday, November 18, 2025, two Nigerian-born men were sentenced in federal court to significant prison terms for orchestrating a multi-year money laundering conspiracy that cleaned more than $4.5 million in criminal proceeds obtained through romance scams and business email compromise schemes.
Olumide Olorunfunmi, 40, and Emmanuel Unuigbe, 43, each received 30 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell also ordered both men to pay joint and several restitution exceeding $4.6 million to the victims harmed by the schemes.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Russ Ferguson, announced the sentences alongside James C. Barnacle, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Charlotte Division. “These defendants exploited elderly Americans and businesses through deception, then worked tirelessly to hide and move the stolen money across borders,” Ferguson said. “Today’s sentences reflect the seriousness of their crimes and our determination to hold international fraud networks accountable.”
According to court records and statements made during the sentencing hearing, the conspiracy operated from 2020 through 2023. Olorunfunmi, Unuigbe, and their co-conspirators maintained a network of U.S.-based bank accounts under corporate names such as Topaz Trading & Logistics Inc., Summit Trading & Financial Services Inc., and Stage 23 Konsult LLC. Victims—many of them elderly individuals targeted in online romance scams, and companies hit by business email compromise attacks—were instructed to wire funds directly into these accounts.
Once the money arrived, the group quickly transferred it to additional domestic and overseas accounts, often within hours, to prevent banks from freezing the funds. A portion of the proceeds was retained as profit. The remainder was used to settle “debts” with overseas co-conspirators through an informal, unlicensed money transmitting system: for every dollar deposited in the U.S., the defendants arranged for an equivalent amount in Nigerian naira to be paid in Nigeria at favorable black-market exchange rates, allowing the entire network to evade official financial oversight.
Prosecutors documented at least 125 victims who collectively lost more than $4.5 million to the underlying fraud schemes laundered by the defendants.
Both men previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. A third defendant in the case, Samson Amos, 52, of Burlington, New Jersey, was also sentenced on the same day for his role in conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Amos received five years of probation, including six months of home confinement, and was ordered to pay restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Ryan of the Charlotte U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case following an extensive investigation led by the Charlotte Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The sentencing comes amid a sharp nationwide increase in cyber-enabled fraud. Romance scams alone cost Americans $1.3 billion in 2023, with victims over age 60 suffering disproportionate losses. Business email compromise schemes continue to inflict hundreds of millions in damages annually, often targeting small- and medium-sized companies with fraudulent invoice or payroll diversion requests.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson praised the FBI’s work and reiterated his office’s commitment to combating transnational fraud rings. “We will continue to trace illicit funds wherever they lead and bring those responsible to justice, no matter where they attempt to hide,” he said.
Following completion of their prison terms and supervised release, both Olorunfunmi and Unuigbe are expected to face removal proceedings.
