Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging three defendants on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and aggravated identity theft:
Noel Chimezuru Agoha, age 37, of Baltimore, MarylandSessieu Ange Oulai, age 34, of Parkville, Maryland, andKelechi Arthur Ntibunka, age 32, of Essex, Maryland.
The indictment was returned on March 22, 2021, and was unsealed today. Agoha and Ntibunka were arrested yesterday and had their initial appearances today. At today’s hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner ordered that Agoha and Ntibunka be detained pending a detention hearing scheduled on May 12, 2021. Oulai is currently detained on unrelated state charges and will have an initial appearance on the federal charges at a later date.
The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Special Agent in Charge Edwin Guard of the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.
According to the three-count indictment, from August 2016 to December 2018, the conspirators conspired with others to execute a business email compromise scam (“BEC” scam) in which the defendants sent deceptive emails to victim businesses posing as clients or representatives of companies with whom the victims had ongoing business to induce money from victims. The parties being impersonated were also victimized by the BEC scam because the object of the fraud was to intercept payments intended for these parties and/or to deprive these parties of money to which they were entitled.
As part of the scheme, “drop accounts” were opened with financial institutions and controlled by the defendants and their co-conspirato ..
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