Bismarck, North Dakota – A Nigerian man who defrauded a Dickinson firm was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and must pay over $350,000 in restitution by a U.S. District Court Judge.
For mail fraud, Bamidele Akande, 37, was detained in 2021. According to the prosecution, Akande conned a Dickinson company into issuing checks while he was a resident of Texas by using a computer intrusion fraud. The scam cost the company more than $298,000. In order to defraud the owners of the Dickinson company out of a further $192,000, the prosecution claims Akande opened a bank account using a fake passport and then sent them an email pretending to be from them.
Police brought Akande back to North Dakota, where he entered a guilty plea in November 2022.
United States Attorney Mac Schneider said, “Too often, swindlers believe they can evade justice because they are behind a computer or operating internationally. This sentence shows they should think again.”
Two other people are currently doing time for their parts in the plan.
