BISMARCK – United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that on May 16, 2024, after a four-day trial, a federal jury found Nigerian citizen Christopher Agbaje guilty on charges of 1) Money Laundering; 2) Aiding and Abetting Wire Fraud; and 3) Aiding and Abetting Mail Fraud. The jury found Agbaje not guilty on charges of 1) Wire Fraud; and 2) Mail Fraud. United States District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor presided over Agbaje’s jury trial in Bismarck, North Dakota, after Agbaje was extradited to North Dakota from the United Kingdom.
As demonstrated at trial, between November and December 2020, the defendant participated with others in a sophisticated scheme to defraud a North Dakota law firm out of $198,336.68. As part of this scheme, individuals falsely purported to be a business owner in a legal dispute with a Bismarck, North Dakota, company and entered into a fictious attorney-client relationship with this law firm. Through email communications, these individuals made false statements and promises, upon which the law firm relied to their detriment. Thereafter, the law firm received a parcel containing a fraudulent Citibank check payable to the law firm in the amount of $198,850.00 and deposited this check in the law firm’s bank account. Subsequently, at the purported business owner’s request, the law firm sent a $198,336.68 wire transfer to Agbaje’s business partner. A short time later, Agbaje directed his business partner to fraudulently initiate a $180,000.00 international wire transfer with the intent to conceal the location, ownership, and control of the law firm’s money.