Two plead guilty in large-scale interstate email scam scheme

HOUSTON - A Houston man and woman have pleaded guilty to their respective roles in an identity theft and business email compromise scam (BEC), announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

From 2021 to 2022, Bolaji Okunnu, 31, operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that received and transmitted funds from the BEC scheme.

As part of his plea, Okunnu acknowledged he moved money through bank accounts that he and others controlled. The funds originated from fraudsters involved in a BEC wire fraud scheme involving at least four victims. Okunnu admitted receiving the funds and then, for a fee, transmitting the fraud proceeds to others.

The scheme also included the theft of stolen checks from various companies.

Amber Bush, 30, created bank accounts to funnel money from stolen checks to Destini Godfrey, who is charged in the BEC wire fraud scheme.

As part of her plea, Bush admitted to using the name and personal identifying information of a real person without their knowledge or consent to open a bank account at JP Morgan Chase bank. After receiving deposits into that account which originated from a stolen check, Bush acknowledged she then issued four checks totaling $165,000 to Godfrey.

More than 45 people in multiple states, including Okunnu and eight others in the Southern District of Texas, have been charged in separate BEC schemes that affected numerous victims.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks will impose sentencing Dec. 8. At that time, Okunnu faces up to five years in federal prison, while Bush faces a mandatory prison term of two years. Both could also be ordered to pay a $250,000 maximum possible fine.

They were permitted to remain on bond pending those hearings.

Godfrey, 31, Houston, is considered a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 713-693-5000. He is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

The FBI-Bryan Resident Agency and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation with valuable assistance from the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office and the Edison Police Department in New Jersey and other law enforcement agencies and U.S. Attorney's Offices throughout the country. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek is prosecuting the case.