Collin County Man Found Guilty On Fraud Charges, Victims Included Senior Citizens, School Districts, Charities

PLANO, TX – A Collin County man has been found guilty on fraud and identity theft charges and his victims included senior citizens, school districts and charities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

Babatope Joseph Aderinoye, 30, of Plano was convicted in the Eastern District of Texas on charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, Aderinoye would obtain fake passports and use them “to establish false business entities and fraudulent bank accounts.” Officials said there are about 13 individual aliases and 12 business aliases tied to the 30-year-old and that evidence suggests there are more.

Co-conspirators would then engage in business email compromise scams and telephone compromise scams where they would direct victims to wire or send funds to the fraudulent accounts, according to court documents. Aderinoye would then withdraw those funds and transfer them to other accounts or wire them to a bank account in Nigeria.

According to court documents, over $6.7 million was deposited into those fraudulent accounts from June 2018 through September 2019, with almost all those funds having already been withdrawn or wired internationally.

The victims included school districts like Community ISD and non-profits like Project 4031, which helps families of the terminally ill. Individual victims, according to court documents, include a person whose identity was used to drain his retirement account and an elderly man who had over $352,000 stolen from his investment account.

Aderinoye faces up to 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.