After a four-day trial, a federal jury found two men and a woman guilty of involvement with an international email hacking scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 victims out of approximately $215 million. The scheme spanned 47 states and 19 countries.
On April 24, 2026, a jury in Toledo, Ohio, convicted Oluwafemi Michael Awoyemi, 40, of Romeoville, Illinois, Aruan Drake, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Peter Reed, 35, of Oak Forest, Illinois, of Wire Fraud Conspiracy. Additionally, Awoyemi and Drake were convicted of a Money Laundering Conspiracy. U.S. District Judge James R. Knepp II presided over the trial.
In total, 25 defendants have been convicted for their roles in this fraud and money laundering scheme, commonly referred to as a “business email compromise.”
According to court documents and evidence presented in court, individuals, businesses, and other organizations in the United States, were targeted and hacked by Nigerian-linked fraud organizations. Their objective was to gain access to e-mail accounts held by individual users. The co-conspirators would then monitor the communications, and other activities of the individual email users to learn about their business practices and contacts. After gaining sufficient intelligence about the nature of a hacking victim’s activities, the co-conspirators would send a fraudulent e-mail to either the hacking victim, or to someone communicating with the hacking victim, requesting payment. Because the co-conspirators were familiar with the victims’ activities, the fraudulent e-mails were crafted in a way to convince recipients that the request for payment was for legitimate business activities. Once members of the conspiracy obtained payment from victims, conspiracy members used a web of fraudulently created bank accounts and cash transfer systems to launder and distribute the funds.
