Mark Wilson
A District of Columbia financial advisor is facing charges after allegedly working with a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal in his international romance scheme to defraud over a dozen victims.
Charles K. Egunjobi, 48, was charged Friday with operating an unlicensed money service business relating to numerous online romance scams, mostly involving senior citizen victims in West Africa and the United States. Prosecutors allege that Egunjobi was instrumental in laundering money to aid in the years-long scheme spearheaded by Isidore Iwuagwu—a 35-year-old Special Deputy U.S. Marshal and Department of Justice contractor who provided security for critical federal facilities.
“If you find yourself in an online relationship and you’re asked for a bunch of money, it’s probably fraud not love,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron said in a press release after Iwuagwu’s Aug. 10 arrest. “We’re prosecuting elder fraud, including romance scams, to the fullest extent of the law.”