SAN FRANCISCO—Kinston Osagie, a Los Angeles based man and his brother, Roland Ighiwiyisi were charged with several counts of money laundering. They scammed women out of almost $3 million. Their victims came from online dating and social sites such as Tinder and Match.com.
Osagie appeared in court where he was released on a $100,000 bond. His brother, Ighiwiyisi, was living in Nigeria at the time of the crime and still lives there.
From January 2015 to August 2020, Osagie and Ighiwiyisi allegedly had 18 different bank accounts where the criminal activity took place. They made fake profiles on dating sites and fake accounts on games such as Words with Friends.
Prosecutors indicated that the bank accounts received about $6 million in deposit activity, but only about half were connected to the fraud.
Osagie and Ighiwiyisi were speaking with women on social media platforms and provided them with fake photos and locations. Once they felt they had built a level of trust, the brothers would start asking for sums of money, but always had an excuse as to why they cannot meet face-to-face.
Both defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for just about a year of their timeline: March 2019 to April 2020.
Osagie transferred the victims’ money to bank accounts owned or controlled by his brother, Ighiwiyisi. He will next appear in court on July 23, 2021.
