The Nigerian government has extradited a Nigerian national to the United States to face federal charges over a romance fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims, in a case that has been pending before an American grand jury since 2021.
Samuel Ugberaese was arrested by the FBI following his extradition and appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Brian S. Myers in Raleigh, North Carolina, who ordered him detained without bail pending trial, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina.
He faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, charges that together carry a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in prison.
According to the federal indictment, Ugberaese and co-conspirators ran a classic romance fraud operation: fabricated identities, false stories, manufactured emotional relationships, and ultimately the manipulation of victims into transferring money on their behalf.
The targets were elderly Americans and others outside the United States — among the most vulnerable and least likely to recover financially from such losses.
The indictment adds a sophisticated laundering layer. Ugberaese allegedly conspired with a co-defendant, Oluwadamilare Kolaogunbule — a naturalised U.S. citizen — to move criminal proceeds through a network of bank accounts, including accounts registered to fictitious export companies, designed to obscure the origin, ownership, and destination of the stolen funds.
The use of front companies to launder romance scam proceeds is a pattern that American prosecutors have flagged as increasingly common in transnational fraud networks with roots in West Africa.
The extradition required coordination across multiple governments and law enforcement agencies: the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI’s legal attaché office in Abuja, the U.S. Department of State, Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Office, the Nigeria Police Force’s INTERPOL unit, and the South African Police Service all played roles in securing Ugberaese’s arrest and transfer.
The indictment was originally returned in January 2021, meaning it took more than five years to bring Ugberaese before an American court.
That timeline reflects both the complexity of cross-border extradition and the historically slow pace of cooperation between Nigeria and the United States on fraud cases, a persistent source of diplomatic friction given the scale of Nigerian-linked financial crime affecting American victims each year.
The case is being prosecuted by the fraud section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
No plea has been entered and Ugberaese is presumed innocent unless convicted.
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