By Abdallah el-Kurebe
While the common perception of the US justice system is that it is fair and just; the evidence found from this investigation reveals the exact opposite. Also, based on this investigation, it appears that there are two justice systems in the U.S, one that applies to whites, and one that applies to racial minorities – especially blacks.

The investigation uncovered a few innumerable instances of real life cases of the most egregious forms of injustices in the U.S, take the following examples:

Court exonerates black man after 42 years in prison: A Missouri black America man, Kevin Strickland, was wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in 1978 and imprisoned in 1979 at age 18. He has been exonerated and released after 42 years in Missouri prison. The National Registry of Exonerations’ data logged since 1989 reveals this as the 17th longest and wrongful sentence in the U.S history. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59396598.amp

Court dismisses case against 4 black men after 72 years in prison: In another example of racial injustice, the case of the Groveland Four, the four black men accused in a 1949 rape in Florida, has been dismissed after 72 years in prison. A circuit court judge in Lake County has cleared the charges against the men and issued a ruling that effectively exonerated them of the crime. “We followed the evidence to see where it led us, and it led us to this moment,” Gladson said at a news conference following the judge’s decision. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna6016

Manhattan District Court to exonerate alleged killers of Malcom X after 55 years in prison: Yet, the two men, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam, convicted in 1966 for allegedly killing Malcolm X, will be exonerated by the Manhattan District Court. Their exoneration, after discovering grave errors in the case, is coming from a 22-month investigation conducted jointly by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and lawyers for the two men. They found that prosecutors and two of the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies — the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department — had withheld key evidence that, had it been turned over, would likely have led to the men’s acquittal. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/nyregion/malcolm-x-killing-exonerated.amp.html

Jury awards man who has spent 26 years in prison $6m after finding police fabricated evidence: A federal jury has awarded a North Carolina man, Darryl Howard $6 million after a jury in Winston-Salem found former Durham police detective Darryl Dowdy fabricated evidence in the case and trial that resulted in Howard’s conviction in 1995 of killing a woman and her daughter in 1991. Howard was sent to prison for more than 20 years. In 2017, Howard filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that accused Dowdy, the city of Durham and others of actions that resulted in his being wrongfully convicted and the Durham County judge vacated Howard’s convictions citing police and prosecutorial misconduct.https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2021-12-01/jury-awards-man-6m-after-finding-police-fabricated-evidence

The common denominator with these examples is that all the victims of these grave injustices are black. Also, the common thread in these examples is that the evidences against the victims were generally insufficient to convict them. In other words, according to publicly available information, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that in the U.S justice system,there is a perpetuation of scapegoating innocent people.

While the scourge of wrongfully accusing, convicting innocent individuals of crimes they did not commit; and the disparities between the treatment of whites on the one hand and racial minorities on the other, is mostly unacknowledged by authority figures in the U.S; the investigation found that Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr, United State District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee — the same district where Abegunde was indicted and prosecuted — had raised concerns in court, that were amplified in news report, implying that prosecutors in the Western District of Tennessee bring harsher charges against black defendants than white defendants for similar crimes. Judge Fowlkes also raised concerns about racial discrimination — by prosecutors in the Western District of Tennessee — in at least three different cases. (US judge raised concerned that race may play unfair role in charges. US judge concerned that race may play unfair role in charges – ABC News (go.com).

This is the comprehensive story of the indictment, prosecution, and conviction of a Nigerian citizen, Olufolajimi Abegunde, in the U.S without evidence of wrongdoing — as established by in this investigation.

According to court records, as well as a large throve of discovery documents reviewed by the authors, Abegunde relocated to the U.S from Nigeria in 2014 to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Texas A & M University in college station, Texas. Upon graduating with the class of 2016, and recognizing opportunities – that resulted from the increase in demand for currency exchange, and remittance services, especially by Nigerians at home, and in the diaspora – in the remittances industry, Abegunde incorporated FJ Williams Inc. doing business as (DBA) TranzAlert. The investigation found that TranzAlert, a financial technology start-up was duly licensed and registered with all the extant industry regulatory bodies, including the financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) U.S. Department of Treasury; the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, and the Central Bank of Nigeria. According to court records, these licenses and registrations permitted TranzAlert to engage in the currency exchange, and international remittance business.

According to publicly available financial regulatory documents that were reviewed in this investigation, obtaining these licenses for TranzAlert, received from the regulatory agencies — required rigorous actions and uncommon resources both in the U.S and Nigeria.

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The beginning of Abegunde’s travails

According to court records, Abegunde’s travails began in August, 2016 when his long-time friend, Ayodeji Ojo visited the U.S from Nigeria along with his pregnant wife and infant daughter. Ojo and his family were accommodated by Abegunde at his home in Atlanta, Georgia. In an interview, Ojo said at the time of the visit, he had a wholly legitimate check of $26,900 that was issued to him by Bank of America. Ojo intended to cash the check and utilize the funds for expenses associated with his family’s trip, including medical expenses related to his pregnant wife.

According to Ojo, after being unsuccessful in his attempts to cash the check at multiple bank branches in America — due to the relatively large size of the check — he was advised by abanker at the Bank of America to open a new bank account at another bank, let the check go through the clearing process and then the funds would become available to him.

Ojo said he chose Wells Fargo Bank which he was required to provide a valid identification document, and contact information for correspondence in the form of a U.S mailing address and a U.S mobile phone number. “I informed the Wells Fargo banker that I was a visitor in the U.S and did not have a U.S mailing address and a U.S mobile phone number.After asking, the banker accepted that I could use Abegunde’s address and mobile phone number to open the account”.

According to court records, the bank account was opened on August 29, 2016, and Ojo was able to access the funds two days after without any challenges.

The investigation found that after around a three week stay in the U.S which involved staying in Abegunde’s home, and travelling to other states, Ojo and his family returned to Lagos, Nigeria via Amsterdam, Netherlands on September 16, 2016 flying with Air France flight No KL0587 Resa, operated by KLM Royal Duch Airlines.

According to Ojo, around the first week of October 2016, Ojo needed to exchange the Nigeria Naira currency for the United State Dollar currency. As such, he contacted an informal vendor – Leke Adenuga, who after agreeing on the exchange rate, requested that Ojo provide his U.S. bank account for the deposit of the agreed U.S. Dollar amount of $9,000. The transaction was consummated, and Ojo eventually received the $9,000 in his Wells Fargo bank account that he had provided Leke Adenuga.

On October 11, 2016 around one month after Ojo had departed the U.S., around two months after Ojo had opened the account at Wells Fargo bank, and two months after Ojo accessed the proceeds of the wholly legitimate $26,900 check, according to court records, Brian Ancona, an investigator with Wells Fargo bank called Abegunde on his mobile phone, the same mobile phone number Ojo used to open Ojo’s Wells Fargo bank account, stating that a certain Luis Ramos Alonso had inadvertently deposited $9,000 into Ojo’s bank account, and was seeking a reversal of the $9,000 deposit. According to court records, Abegunde told Anconathat the account owner was in Nigeria, and attempted a three-way call to connect Ancona with Ojo. The effort was however unsuccessful. Ojo eventually called Abegunde back, and after Abegunde conveyed Ancona’s urgent message regarding the reversal, Ojo immediately agreed and authorized the reversal of the $9,000 deposit. When Ancona called Abegunde back, Abegunde conveyed Ojo’s agreement authorizing the reversal, and Ancona expressed his profound gratitude for Abegunde’s cooperation in achieving the reversal.

In an interview with Abegunde while in jail, he said he thought that his engagement in the reversal was a noble act, and the chapter closed. According to Abegunde, he was however taken aback when early in the morning of March 15, 2017, two FBI agents — Kevin Hall and Tyson Fowler of the Atlanta Field Division of the FBI— visited his home to inquire about Ojo. According to him, one of the agents pulled out a copy of Ojo’s Nigerian passport data page, and asked if Abegunde knew the bearer of the passport data page. Abegunde said he confirmed to the agents that Ojo was a long-time friend who he had accommodated during Ojo’s visit to the U.S in August 2016. Abegunde also said he confirmed to the agents that he had granted Ojo permission to utilize his address and mobile phone number to open a bank account with Wells Fargo bank for the reason that Ojo resides in Nigeria and had neither U.S address nor U.S mobile phone number. According to courts records, as well as the report prepared by the agents, Abegunde and the agents engaged in wide ranging convivial discussions about Abegunde’s remittances business and fraud in general. In these discussions, Abegunde vehemently and categorically condemned all forms of fraud.

According to excerpts of the report prepared by the agents regarding their discussions with Abegunde, “Abegunde reported that he was friends with Ayodeji Ojo and that Ojo was a Nigerian banker. Abegunde advised that he was not aware of Ojo’s involvement with transferring money to Nigeria or whether Ojo knew people in California or Texas. Abegunde stated that Ojo was a person with integrity and would not participate in fraud schemes. Abegunde advised that he had spoken with Ojo regarding FJ Williams becoming a money transfer business. Abegunde needed a Nigerian banker to help get a license with the Central Bank of Nigeria. He was trying to make FJ Williams a competitor against Western Union. Abegunde stated that FJ Williams complied with applicable U.S. anti-money laundering and “know your customer” regulations. According to Abegunde, FJ Williams offered an online wire transfer service that eliminated the need for physical store locations. Abegunde was aware of the extent of fraudulent activity that occurred in Nigeria and condemned it …The associate then deposited the U.S. currency into the Nigeria’s U.S. bank account. The Nigerian used the money to pay for things like medical bills. Abegunde was convinced that only the person who first obtained U.S. currency by false information was committing fraud.”

The report prepared by the FBI agents further stated that “On the same day, Ojo contacted the case agents and advised that Abegunde had let him know that the agents were in his residence. Ojo stated that he had used Abegunde’s address to open a Wells Fargo Bank account, but not for anything else. Ojo reported that he was not in a business relationship with Abegunde. Ojo would bring things like food to Abegunde from Nigeria. According to Ojo, Abegunde had asked for help with getting a money transmitter license in Nigeria. Ojo reported that he visited the United States for vacations and he was recently in the United States for the birth of his child in El Paso, Texas. Ojo needed U.S. currency to pay for the birth which he received from Leke Adenuga via a wire transfer into his Wells Fargo account from Javier Alonso; however, the bank took the money back and closed Ojo’s account. Ojo advised that he had made similar transactions in the past to pay for medical treatments for his wife. Ojo acknowledged that he had sent money from the U.S. to Nigeria several times in amounts around $10,000, but he did not have details. Ojo stated the money was left over from vacations”

According to Abegunde, with the benefit of hindsight, two questions by the agents stood out, and should have raised thunderous alarm bells. The questions were asked by agent Tyson Fowler. The first was “How is it that you can afford a place like this.” and the second was “why do you Nigerians like to defraud we Americans.” Also, according to Abegunde, after the second question, Kevin Hall’s countenance changed because he appeared to have adverse reaction to the question and Fowler ceased going further.

According to court records, Abegunde offered the agents his full cooperation by providing them with Ojo’s contact information in Nigeria. Furthermore, the agents’ reports showed that Abegunde also ensured that Ojo contacted the agents shortly after they departed Abegunde’s home.

According to Abegunde, his decision to hospitably open his doors to the FBI agents, and engage in unfiltered innocent discussion with them — in the absence of competent legal representation — is what led to his undoing.

The investigation also showed that Ojo immediately contacted the agents when Abegunde informed him that his attention was required by the agents. According to Ojo, upon calling the agents, they made him realize that the objective of their seeking his attention was regarding the $9,000 deposit into Ojo’s account six months earlier in October 2016. Ojo stated in an interview that “I called them [Tyson Fowler and Kevin Hall] through the telephone and we spoke at length. They told me they would reach out to me if they have any further questions.”

The investigation showed that the agents’ statement confirmedthat Ojo explained the origins of the $9,000 transaction. Ojo told them that he had paid a certain Leke Adenuga — at an agreed upon exchange rate — the Nigerian Naira equivalent of $9,000, and that Leke Adenuga facilitated the $9,000 deposit into Ojo’s Wells Fargo bank account.

As to whether Ojo had any prior existing relationship with Luis Ramos Alonso, Ojo stated that “I have never met Alonso. I did not know Alonso from anywhere. I did not speak to Alonso because I have never met him or had any business deal with him. The unfortunate $9,000 deposit by the said Alonso was made on 6th October, 2016 and reversal was done on 14th October, 2016 and the account was closed on that date.”

The investigation revealed that Ojo sent Leke Adenuga’scontact information to the FBI agents through Kevin Hall’s email address: kevin.hall@ic.fbi.gov with the subject line ‘‘INVESTIGATION” on Thursday, March 16, 2017. The email reads: “Good day Kevin, my name is Ayodeji Ojo from Nigeria. We spoke as it regards illegal money transfer, kindly find below the details of the person that I bought money from Leke Adenuga +2348127591677”.

According to Abegunde, throughout his engagement with the FBI agents, they never mentioned Alonso or the $9,000 transaction. Abegunde said he only became aware of the underlying cause of the agents’ visit when Ojo relayed to him the contents of Ojo’s discussion with the agents. From this investigation, the agents’ report corroborates this fact.

This investigation reveals that without reaching out to Abegunde and Ojo for further clarifications, and without reaching out to Leke Adenuga whose contact information had been provided to the agents, the Assistant United States Attorney, Debra Ireland of the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis, on August 24,2017, conveyed a grand jury and without any evidence of actions that rise to the level of crimes, indicted Abegunde and Ojo on charges of Wire Fraud Conspiracy, Money Laundering Conspiracy and Aggravated Identity Theft. Along with Abegunde and Ojo, several other individuals were indicted in the alleged conspiracy. Abegunde and Ojo have continually insisted that they have no knowledge of, and have never associated with the other individuals charged in the indictment.

Court records corroborate this key point because no evidence has surfaced to suggest any connection between Abegunde and Ojo on the one hand, and any of the other individuals on the August 24, 2017 indictment on the other hand.

In an interview, lamenting his predicament, Ojo stated that “the agents never replied to my mails ever since then (March 2017) and when they did not get back to me, I did not envisage there were issues, especially because Alonso’s $9,000 was reversed from my account. There was no loss, no victim, no damage and no beneficiary.”

According to Abegunde and Ojo, they were neither aware that they were under a federal investigation in the U.S nor were they aware that they had been indicted. But this changed on February 7, 2018; six months after the Grand Jury in the Western District of Tennessee returned the indictment.