U.S District Court Declares 2 Nigerians Wanted Over Illegalities – Details.
Information reaching thenewkingdom have it that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, has seeks the assistance of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to help with the arrest of two Nigerian fugitives wanted over healthcare fraud in the United States.
The report disclosed that Babatunde Shodiya and Yinka Jamiu were on September 25 indicted by a grand jury at the U.S. District Court of Minnesota over a scheme that saw healthcare providers lose $13 million between October 2020 and 2024.
“The U.S. officials have reached out to us and they said the suspects are hiding in the country. We have an obligation to honour the request of our U.S. counterparts as part of our longstanding collaboration to combat cross-border crimes.” an EFCC agent who spoke with journalists under anonymity said.
The U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger revealed that, Shodiya and Jamiu allegedly used falsified websites and email addresses to manipulate payment transfers on Optum Pay, a popular payment system among Minnesota’s healthcare providers under the guise of being owned by Fairview Health.
While used these fictitious email addresses, the fraud team allegedly sent emails to Fairview Health staff, deceiving them into supplying login information.
The duo created a counterfeit website, fairviewhospitals.org, and pretended to be key hospital personnel, including the CEO, executive vice president, and a business analyst.
Shodiya, in addition to the wire fraud allegations, is charged with aggravated identity theft for pretending to be Fairview executives.
According to the Luger, “As part of the scheme, Babatunde and Jamiu created a fake ‘spoofed’ internet domain designed to appear as though it was controlled by Fairview Health.”
“In total, Babatunde and Ahmed fraudulently directed more than $13m in payments intended for Fairview Health from Minnesota-based healthcare companies to accounts controlled by Babatunde, Ahmed, and their co-conspirators.”
If the two criminals are finally apprehended, they would be extradited to the U.S. and forfeit all assets linked to the profits of the crime to the American authorities.
