Man gets almost four years for attempting to steal church pension funds
A Las Vegas man was sentenced Monday to almost four years in prison for conspiring to steal money from church pension funds.
Oluremi Akinleye, 42, had pleaded guilty in June 2022 to his role in trying to funnel money from accounts held by members of the Pension Fund of the Christian Church and Lutheran Church Extension Fund by impersonating those people, federal prosecutors said.
Akinleye was sentenced in federal court on Monday to 45 months, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson and Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division.
The fraud attempt played out between November 2017 to July 2018, authorities said.
“As part of the scheme, Akinleye and his co-conspirators obtained the names and personal identifying information of account holders, and then used that information to make withdrawals and transfers from the victim accounts to accounts the conspirators controlled,” the announcement said. “As a result of the scheme, Akinleye and his co-conspirators attempted to fraudulently obtain over $400,000 from the two funds.”
Akinleye pleaded guilty in June 2022 to federal counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, possession of 15 or more counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, and aggravated identity theft.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com or 561-324-6421. Follow @BrettClarkson_ on Twitter.
