A Texas man who posed as a Belgian veterinarian on the 'Silver Angels' dating site has been jailed for three years after scamming a Missouri woman out of her life savings and has been ordered to pay her back every cent he swindled from her.
Rotimi Oladimeji, 38, was sentenced on Tuesday, a year after pleading guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said in a news release.
He was the third person sentenced in the scheme that began around October 2019 and ran through February 2020.
His co-conspirators, Olumide Akrinmade, 38, and Adewale Adesanya, 40, who acted as 'mules' each pleaded guilty and are serving time in a federal prison, as per the Department of Justice.
The victim, identified only as R.W., was spotted on the dating site Silver Singles, a platform for people 50 and over. Oladimeji and his associates began an online relationship with the woman. Over the course of their on-line romance, she was bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It was later revealed that Oladeimeji was a con artist and assisting other scammers in Nigeria and the United States to prey on people like his victim.
The Silver Singles dating platform is for mature adults and is the site where victim R.W. was preyed upon by three different scammers
Elite Singles was another dating site that was named in the indictment where the scammers may have looked for potential victims
In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam and reported losses hit a staggering $1.3 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The median reported loss was $4,400
At one point during their union, the scammers made plans to meet with her at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
But, they never followed through and kept the woman waiting.
In October 2019, Oladimeji continued the deception. He reportedly told R.W. that he was going to Dubai, but needed her to send him money otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to leave.
Oladimeji and his co-conspirators continued to make request after request of the victim for four and five-figure sums, court records show.
He had the victim send cash and cashier’s checks via FedEx to the Texas home of his co-defendant, Akrinmade of Richardson, Texas.
Oladimeji had recruited Akrinmade and Adesanya, another Texas resident, to receive the funds.
One of those transactions include a total of seven payments that R.W. sent to Oladeimeji over the course of two years - November 1, 2019 to February 7, 2020 - that totaled $252,500, as per the DOJ.
The money was sent by cashiers check and sent to Akimade's address, court documents show.
Oladimeji received 20 percent of the funds he generated. While Akinrinmade and Adesanya, who were tasked with transmitting the fraudulent monies, received 20 percent of the funds they forwarded.
The remaining amount went to scammers in Nigeria.
R.W. lost nearly $1.17 million in the scheme. It remains unclear if she has received any retribution yet.
Oladimeji, who is separated from his wife and has three children, who live in Oklahoma could be deported after his release from prison, Robert Patrick of the Eastern District told DailyMail.com.
A copy of the wire transfers showing the name of the bank sending and receiving the funds, the transactions that were being made, including the dates of the alleged scam and the counts
The wire transfers that were made during the dates of October 2019 through February 2020
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Oladiemeji was living in Richmond, Texas, at the time he defrauded his victim.
It is unclear where he will be imprisoned but, he requested to be held at a facility near his home in Texas, as per his lawyer, Patrick said.
Akrinmade was sentenced in April to 15-months behind bars for one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.
He is currently being held in federal prison in Thomson, Illinois and was ordered to pay $46,500 back to the victim.
Adesanya, who was sentenced in September 2022 by the US District Court in Dallas, is serving four years in a Montgomery, Alabama prison.
He was ordered to repay $1.5 million. The combined amount was from the romance fraud, as well as a business email compromise scheme, he was involved in.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.
In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam and reported losses that hit a staggering $1.3 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The median reported loss was $4,400.
The agency said scammers pay close attention to the information you share, and don't miss a beat becoming your perfect match.
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