A 34-year-old Nigerian, Adetunji Abudu, has been arrested at a United States airport, seven years after he allegedly fled the country to Nigeria amid an investigation into a fraud and money-laundering scheme targeting elderly Americans.
Abudu, from Lagos, was arrested at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, while attempting to enter the US from Istanbul, Turkey, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island said.
He is one of six defendants named in a superseding indictment alleging that millions of dollars obtained through fraud schemes operated from Nigeria were laundered through bank accounts and businesses in the US.
According to the indictment, the alleged schemes targeted elderly Americans through online romance scams, fraudulent sweepstakes, fake rental listings and sham online shipping transactions.
The proceeds were allegedly channelled through accounts and businesses in Rhode Island, Idaho and other locations, with significant amounts eventually transferred to Nigeria. Members of the alleged conspiracy were also accused of using the proceeds to buy vehicles that were shipped overseas.
The US Attorney’s Office said Abudu fled to Nigeria in 2019 after the FBI carried out a court-authorised search of his residence in North Providence.
He appeared before a US District Court in Rhode Island on October 21, 2026, and was ordered detained pending trial.
Five of his co-defendants — Dotun Olawale Alonge, Oluwaseyi Akintol, Samson Ikotun, Olabode Shaba and Oladipup Shodipu — have pleaded guilty to money-laundering conspiracy. They received prison sentences ranging from time served to 42 months.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney John P. McAdams and was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the US Postal Inspection Service and police departments in Tallmadge, Ohio, and Moscow, Idaho.
The US Attorney’s Office stressed that the indictment contains allegations and that Abudu is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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