Adedayo Fateru, a Nigerian national and U.S. permanent resident, has received an 87-month prison sentence for his participation in a money laundering conspiracy involving $1.7 million in illicit funds. U.S. Attorney Dan Bishop for the Middle District of North Carolina confirmed that Fateru was one of four individuals convicted for their roles in the operation.
Alongside Fateru, authorities sentenced Lisa Farrow, William Atwater, and Victoria Stone. Investigations led by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service revealed that the group laundered proceeds from business email compromises, check fraud, unauthorized ACH transactions, pandemic-related EIDL loans, and fraudulent unemployment claims.
Prosecutors established that Farrow enlisted Stone and Atwater to help launder the funds. Farrow and Fateru instructed their accomplices to create bank accounts specifically to process and obscure the illegal money. Stone utilized 10 accounts to receive over $1 million, while Atwater handled more than $700,000, moving the cash through hundreds of small transactions to evade detection.
In addition to his 87-month prison term, Fateru faces three years of supervised release and subsequent deportation proceedings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Farrow received a 45-month sentence, Atwater was handed 33 months, and Stone was sentenced to 25 months. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Waid.
