Olutayo Sunday Ogunlaja, 39, and Abel Adeyi Daramola, 37, have been sentenced to a combined total of 40 years in prison for their involvement in a sophisticated romance fraud scheme.
The U.S. Department of Justice, through U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez and FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of the Albuquerque Field Office, announced the conviction following a four-day trial and less than three hours of jury deliberation.
According to court records and evidence presented during the trial, the defendants orchestrated the scheme by creating a fictitious online persona named “Glenn Brown” on the dating platform eHarmony.com. Working in concert with an accomplice, Ogunlaja and Daramola used the fake profile to initiate a romantic relationship with a victim from Albuquerque, New Mexico, ultimately defrauding them of substantial sums of money.
The scam spanned from January 2016 to April 2017 and relied on convincing the victim that their financial assistance was critical to “Glenn Brown” completing a purported construction project in Malaysia and returning safely to the United States.
Over the course of the scheme, the victim was manipulated into transferring approximately $560,000 to various bank accounts in the United States, Canada, and Malaysia. On September 27, 2016, the victim wired $28,000 to a Woodforest Bank account registered under the name “Daramola Cars” as directed by the fictitious “Glenn Brown.” Daramola subsequently transferred $18,000 to a seafood importer in Denmark and issued a $14,000 check.
While Daramola denied involvement in the scam, an FBI investigation uncovered extensive evidence, including text and WhatsApp messages, linking him to multiple fraudulent activities, such as providing bank accounts for use in romance and other fraud schemes.
Ogunlaja’s role involved facilitating the receipt of fraudulent funds through his Bank of America account. In March 2016, under the direction of “Glenn Brown,” the victim deposited $20,000 in cash into Ogunlaja’s account. Ogunlaja then conducted multiple cash withdrawals and transferred portions of the funds to Daramola’s account.
Following their conviction, the court allowed both Ogunlaja and Daramola to remain on supervised release under specific conditions pending their sentencing, which is yet to be scheduled. Each defendant faces up to 20 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
