Adetunji Abudu, 34, of Lagos, Nigeria, was arrested Monday night at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, as he attempted to re-enter the United States from Istanbul, Turkey, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Abudu appeared on October 21, 2026, in US District Court in Rhode Island and was ordered detained pending trial.
Source: US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, District of Rhode Island
A second report of the same announcement, published October 26, gave the same details: Abudu was arrested at Logan as he tried to re-enter the country from Istanbul, appeared in Rhode Island on October 21 and was ordered held until trial. The charges against him are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Source: The New England Signal, October 26, 2026
Abudu is one of six defendants charged in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Providence, alleging that the individuals laundered millions of dollars obtained through a series of fraud schemes operated from Nigeria that primarily targeted elderly US residents, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, victims were allegedly deceived through online romance scams, fraudulent sweepstakes schemes, false rental listings and sham online shipping transactions. Funds collected from victims were allegedly funnelled through bank accounts and businesses in Rhode Island, Idaho and elsewhere, with significant proceeds ultimately sent to Nigeria. Members of the conspiracy also allegedly purchased vehicles with the illicit proceeds and shipped them overseas.
Prosecutors said Abudu fled the United States to Nigeria in 2019 after the FBI executed a court-authorized search of his residence in North Providence, Rhode Island. He remained outside the country for about seven years before his arrest at Logan.
Five of Abudu's co-defendants — Dotun Olawale Alonge, Oluwaseyi Akintol, Samson Ikotun, Olabode Shaba and Oladipup Shodipu — subsequently pleaded guilty to money-laundering conspiracy and received sentences ranging from time served to 42 months in prison, the Justice Department said.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney John P. McAdams. It was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the US Postal Inspection Service and the Tallmadge, Ohio, and Moscow, Idaho, police departments. A federal indictment is merely an accusation, the Justice Department noted.