[B]etween March 2016 and June 2017, Denizard raised millions of dollars from dozens of victims who believed that they were investing in specific music concerts through legitimate businesses owned by Denizard and a co-conspirator, Andres Fernandez. Fernandez and Denizard lured investors by guaranteeing them large monetary returns and promising that all of the funds that they provided would be invested in events by top artists, including Drake, Garth Brooks, Pitbull, The Weeknd, and Maná. In fact, neither Denizard nor Fernandez was involved in most of the events.

Denizard used most of the funds that he had received from investors to pay fraudulent "investment returns" to earlier investors and for his own personal use, including to purchase a new lakefront residence, to make payments on his new luxury vehicle, and to stay in luxury hotels. The total amount of victims' losses attributable to Denizard are $7,479,453.

Fernandez, who was the instigator of the scheme, previously pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud and was sentenced last year to 10 years in federal prison.

[F]rom at least January 31, 2013, through May 12, 2014, Mohammed was part of a conspiracy that acquired stolen vehicles, some of which were stolen from other states and transported to Maryland, and then shipped the stolen vehicles to Africa for sale. Members of the conspiracy in the United States would hire others to steal vehicles - with the keys - so that the vehicles could be more easily sold.  Mohammed and other members of the conspiracy: purchased the stolen vehicles from the thieves or an intermediary; arranged to store the vehicles at parking lots and other locations, known as "cooling spots"; loaded the vehicles into a shipping container; and transported the containers to a port, including the Port of Baltimore, for export to destinations including Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.

In order to ship vehicles overseas, shipping companies are required to have valid titles for the vehicles.  As part of the scheme, Mohammed and other members of conspiracy used fraudulent title information in an effort to conceal the fact that the cars they sought to ship had been stolen.  Mohammed and other conspirators acquired false Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) and replaced the true VINs on the stolen vehicles, and they also registered businesses with the state of Maryland, and then used these businesses to create registration paperwork for the vehicles, including false bills of sale utilizing the false VINs.  In that manner, the conspirators were able to acquire or forge title(s), registration(s), and proof(s) of insurance for the vehicles to fill out the necessary paperwork so they could ship the cars overseas.  The loss for the cars, both recovered and not recovered, was over $200,000.

As detailed in his plea agreement and other court documents, from March through November 2014, Mohammed, co-defendant Mohammed Kwaning, and other conspirators participated in a bank and wire fraud scheme in which they acquired account information of individual victims, including from investment account management firms and impersonated the victims to steal money from their accounts.  

Issah Mohammed recruited individuals, including Mark Dennis, Charles Mensah, and others, who registered corporate shell entities with the state of Maryland.  The recruits set up bank accounts at multiple banking institutions in the names of these shell entities. Kwaning then either directed that the funds from the compromised accounts be wired into the bank accounts opened in the names of the shell entities or provided altered or fabricated checks from the compromised accounts to Issah Mohammed.  Mohammed then provided the checks to Mark Dennis, Charles Mensah, and the other recruits to be deposited into the shell entities' bank accounts.  Mohammed and the recruits then withdrew or transferred the funds from the business accounts they maintained to receive the victims' funds to other accounts the conspirators controlled before the bank discovered that the funds were from compromised accounts.

Some of the victim accounts were compromised by individuals who called investment firms pretending to be the actual account holders and were able to reset the password for the investment accounts.  Individuals also hacked the e-mails of victims and, posing as the account holders, requested funds be wired from their retirement accounts to the bank accounts of the shell corporations controlled by the conspirators.  The attempted loss during the nine months of the scheme was over $1.3 million, and the conspirators were able to withdraw over $229,000 of the stolen funds, which they then split amongst themselves.

[A]kinrinola, a Nigerian national who was granted legal permanent residency in the United States in 2018, was part of a scheme to defraud U.S.-based victims out of money and property. Akinrinola's co-conspirator in Nigeria orchestrated several scams, such as tricking victims into believing they were eligible for fictitious awards or establishing purported (but false) romantic relationships with victims and exploiting their affections. 

The co-conspirator in Nigeria directed victims to send money to Akinrinola. While in Kansas as a college student, she received funds from the scam victims-in amounts ranging from hundreds of dollars to as much $20,000-via wire transfers, money orders, financial applications, Wal-Mart money grams, Western Union, the United States Postal Service, and various other means. Akinrinola kept a portion for herself as her reward and sent the bulk of the funds to her co-conspirator in Nigeria. To do so, she generally used the Sendwave, WorldRemit, or Boss Revolution mobile applications.  

The following are just a few examples of the scams Akinrinola and her co-conspirator perpetrated:  

• Victims 1 and 2 received Facebook messages from an individual who purported to be with FedEx. They were told they won a $130,000 grant and that FedEx would deliver the cash after Victim 2 paid a "case file fee." Victim 2 then deposited $2,500 cash into a Bank of America account for the fee. Victim 2 was then told she needed to pay another $1,000 for a "winning certificate." Because Victims 1 and 2 did not have $1,000, they allowed the purported Facebook account holder to purchase three iPhones through their Verizon account. Victims 1 and 2 were instructed to mail the iPhones to Akinrinola (in Kansas). Victim 2 then received an image from the Facebook account claiming to be from the IRS and requesting $15,000 before release of the grant funds.
  
  
• Victim 3 was the victim of an online dating scam and lost approximately $8,000, of which he sent $900 to Akinrinola via a kiosk at a Walgreens store.
  
  
• Victim 4 also was the victim of an online dating scam. Victim 4 lost approximately $3,815, and he sent $710 to Akinrinola. Victim 4 believed the money was for musical instruments for children in Nigeria.
  
  
• Victim 5 was the victim of a Facebook scam. A man on Facebook, known to Victim 5 as "Steven," told Victim 5 that he was in the military and needed money, and Victim 5 sent $1,000 to Akinrinola in this scam.