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42-Year-Old Nigerian Man Bagged 2 Years Prison Sentence In US Over $300k Romance Scam
Badetito O. Obafemi, a 42-year-old Nigerian man, has been sentenced to prison for his involvement in an online romance fraud that targeted elderly victims in Missouri, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
On Wednesday, April 9, 2025, US Chief District Judge Beth Phillips sentenced Obafemi of Dallas, Georgia, to 24 months without parole.
According to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, the court also sentenced Obafemi to three years of supervised release after incarceration and ordered him to pay $311,520 in compensation to the victims of his crimes.
On April 18, 2024, Obafemi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money. Obafemi acknowledged taking part in a romance fraud that targeted victims in Taney County, Missouri, Northfield, Minnesota, and Bergen County, New Jersey, between June 2016 and at least March 2018.
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The perpetrators of romance scams established ties with their victims through internet interactions. The scammers then started requesting money from the victims for various reasons, such as company expenses, medical bills, travel expenses, and food.
According to court filings, the Taney County victim was approached by someone pretending to be “Kevin Condon” on Facebook in May 2016.
Following multiple interactions via email, phone, and Facebook, “Condon” persuaded the victim to send him money for expenses associated with his overseas business project and various medical difficulties.
Conspirators took a total of $27,460 from the Taney County victim. “Condon” also tried to persuade the victim to transfer $40,000 to an account managed by Obafemi, ostensibly to pay a South African court for his release from prison.
Obafemi colluded with the criminals to receive wire transfers from the victims, coordinating bank account information, transfer time, and fund transfers between accounts.
Obafemi received funds in his personal and business accounts, EasyTickets, LLC and Goeasy Logistics, LLC, which he owned and ran from his Georgia home.
Assistant US Attorney Casey Clark prosecuted this case. Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and the Northfield, Minnesota, Police Department looked into the case.
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