Edikan Adiakpan, a 33-year-old Nigerian man, has been arrested in the United States for his alleged involvement in a large-scale commercial email hack and money laundering conspiracy.
The operation allegedly duped organisations in eight states, including a California-based medical research firm dedicated to discovering therapies for US military veterans.
This was stated in a news statement published on the US Department of Justice’s website on Thursday.
The arrest was reported by Nicholas J. Ganjei, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, who stated that Adiakpan will appear in court before Magistrate Judge Peter Bray in Houston.
Adiakpan was identified in a three-count indictment delivered by a federal grand jury on June 11 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and running an unregistered money transmission business.
According to the US Department of Justice, Adiakpan and his co-conspirators perpetrated the fraud in 2021 by sending faked emails impersonating real suppliers.
“They were allegedly tricked into sending payments to bank accounts the fraudsters controlled instead of to the actual suppliers.
“The charges further allege the conspirators laundered the funds by quickly transferring the money between multiple bank accounts they controlled.
“They then allegedly converted the funds into cashier’s cheques. Adiakpan allegedly cashed the cheques and kept a percentage as a fee,” the statement read.
