A Nigerian-born American citizen, Bukky Olukoga, has pleaded guilty before a United States federal court to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, agreeing to forfeit more than $200,000 linked to the illicit operation.
Court documents filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island showed that Olukoga entered the guilty plea under an agreement reached with prosecutors, bringing to a close years of investigation into her financial activities.
Under the terms of the plea deal, the defendant agreed to surrender assets worth $203,968.62, including cash recovered from her residence, funds held in bank accounts, and investments traced to a brokerage account.
The agreement also requires her to disclose all assets owned, controlled, or transferred within the last seven years, including any property connected to the illegal enterprise.
Prosecutors disclosed that the forfeited assets include $8,800 seized from her home during a search in 2022, $15,894.91 held in Bank of America accounts, and $179,273.71 contained in a Robinhood investment account.
Authorities stated that the funds must be remitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury at least 30 days before sentencing. Failure to comply could result in the forfeiture order being incorporated into her sentence, with the government empowered to seize substitute assets to recover the outstanding amount.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, three years of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment.
In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduced sentence within federal sentencing guidelines and refrain from filing additional charges, although the final decision rests with the court.
Investigators said scrutiny of Olukoga’s financial dealings began several years ago as part of a wider probe into suspected bank fraud, money laundering, tax violations, currency structuring and other financial crimes.
According to court filings, Olukoga owned Grace’s Property Investment LLC, a Rhode Island-based company established in 2009. However, investigators alleged that transactions flowing through accounts linked to the business far exceeded what could reasonably be attributed to its stated operations.
Authorities said records revealed substantial volumes of deposits and transfers through Cash App, Zelle and multiple bank accounts between 2020 and 2021, despite limited evidence of active business operations.
Financial investigators reported that nearly $70,000 was received through Cash App within a five-month period in 2020, while close to $240,000 was transferred through Zelle from dozens of individuals during the same year.
Further examination of bank records allegedly uncovered cash deposits exceeding $1.7 million into one set of accounts within seven months, alongside additional deposits running into hundreds of thousands of dollars across other financial institutions.
Prosecutors maintained that several of the transactions bore characteristics consistent with business email compromise fraud and money-laundering activities, prompting deeper scrutiny of the source and destination of the funds.
The investigation intensified in April 2022 when federal agents stopped Olukoga at Newark Liberty International Airport and examined communications stored on her mobile phone.
According to an affidavit filed by a Homeland Security investigator, messages recovered from the device suggested she assisted individuals in transferring money from the United States to Nigeria in exchange for commissions while discussing foreign exchange rates.
“I believe that the message exchange shows that Olukoga was asking for $3 per every $100 that she moved,” a U.S. special agent stated in court documents.
Investigators also alleged that her purported spouse controlled a Nigerian company previously identified by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as being linked to money laundering activities associated with internet fraud.
No date has yet been fixed for her sentencing.
