The top executives of a United States-based fintech company, Ping Express have been slammed with 27 months imprisonment for breaching money laundering rules.
The fintech executives who hail from Nigerian with the names of Anslem Oshionebo and Opeyemi Odeyale pleaded guilty to contravening money laundering rules after sending $167 million to Africa unchecked in not more than three years.
While Oshionebo is the chief executive officer, Oyedale is the chief operating officer and both are alleged to have laundered $160 million out of the country to Nigeria.
This was newly revealed by the US Department of Justice as it added that Ping Express failed to provide sufficient details about the sources or motives of the funds involved in the transactions, or the customers initiating the transmissions. It also said part of the money sent to Nigeria was also suspected to be the gains of internet fraud.
It further stated that the company’s Information Technology/Business Development Manager, Aleoghena Okhumale, was said to have also pleaded guilty to knowingly transmitting illegally-derived funds. Oshionebo and Oyedale, both were sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison in the country, but Okhumale bagged a prison sentence of 42 months.
