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BURSTED: US NAVAL OFFICER CAUGHT IN NIGERIAN SCAM WEB (READ DETAIL)

Afnews Editor

Jul 03, 2019

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A 33-year-old American, Darlington Otowan, who is a Petty Officer Second Class in the US Navy and lives in military housing, is facing a conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge, according to court documents.

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Otowan is with a Norfolk-based Naval unit in Virginia.

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The six-page court document lays out allegations of a conspiracy that involved several unidentified co-conspirators and several victims in the United States.

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Records say Otowan was approached by a childhood friend four years ago and they allegedly discussed how he could make money by acting as a money exchange for people in Nigeria, which is his place of birth. Otowan is an American citizen.

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The documents state he opened bank accounts, and from October 2015-April 2017 he would allegedly manage the money in the accounts.

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They say the purpose of the scheme was for Otowan, "Conspirator-1,ÔÇØ their families and others to personally profit by using bank accounts opened and managed by Otowan to direct unlawfully obtain money.

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"Conspirator-2ÔÇØ and others would engage in widespread fraud against U.S. citizens in order to get money that would allegedly be wired to Otowan's account, records indicate.

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"For example, Conspirator-2 approached a Jane Doe 1 fraudulently claiming to be a U.S Army Major General stationed in Iraq. Conspirator-2 began to solicit money from Jane Doe-1 ostensibly to fund a Nigerian non-profit. Between August 2016-March 2017, Jane Doe-1 wired approximately $460,000 to two of Otowan's bank accounts,ÔÇØ according to the federal documents.

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Records also state Conspirator-2 allegedly defrauded a widow, "Jane Doe-2,ÔÇØ through a romance scheme.

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They say "Conspirator-3ÔÇØ befriended the woman on social media, claiming to be a general in the U.S. Army assigned to the United Nations command. The suspect allegedly told the woman to send money to transfer a "consignment boxÔÇØ to Jane Doe-2 as well as to facilitate the supposed general's extraction from the "war zone.ÔÇØ

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Documents indicate there were at least six victims involved in similar schemes, all of whom allegedly sent money to Otowan's accounts.

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Records indicate Otowan would allegedly send money by wire from Virginia to his mother in Nigeria.

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Three other victims wired $15,000, $15,000 and $24,500, respectively, according to the documents.

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(PMNEWS)

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— Afnews Editor

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