Per the Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland –Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo, age 29, a Nigerian national residing in South Africa, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering (with co-conspirators in Maryland), related to a business email compromise (“BEC”) scheme with intended losses of the conspiracy of more than $6 million.  Simon-Ebo arrived in the United States on April 12, 2023, after being extradited from Canada.

According to his plea agreement, from February 2017 until at least July 2017, Simon-Ebo conspired with others to perpetrate a BEC scheme.  Specifically, Simon-Ebo and his co-conspirators, including co-conspirators residing in Maryland, gained unauthorized access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses targeted by the conspirators and sent false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails, which are emails with forged sender addresses, to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators of the scheme, called “drop accounts.”