A 54-year-old Nigerian, Oluwole Adegboruwa, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a court in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, for drug trafficking and money laundering.
The sentence was imposed by US District Court Judge Jill N. Parish on November 14. Adegboruwa, residing in Las Vegas, Nevada, was also ordered to supervised release for life and the forfeiture of over $20 million.
In May, a jury found Adegboruwa and his co-defendant, Enrique Isong, 49, of Los Angeles, California, guilty of multiple federal crimes, including conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and money laundering.
Isong was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and three years of supervised release on October 23.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) statement revealed that from October 2016 through May 2019, Adegboruwa sold more than 300,000 oxycodone pills on dark web marketplaces to customers throughout the United States.
The jury found that Adegboruwa organized and supervised a continuing criminal enterprise that earned approximately $9,112,471 in drug proceeds.
Each member of his enterprise had specific roles, from procuring pharmacy-grade pills to packaging and shipping them to customers.
Adegboruwa controlled sales on dark web markets and managed monetary accounts, including cryptocurrency accounts used to receive profits. He admitted to starting the online dark web drug sales operation.
US Attorney Trina A. Higgins emphasized the importance of protecting the community from illicit drugs and dismantling drug trafficking operations, stating that her office and law enforcement partners would continue to prosecute and seek justice for these crimes.
Jonathan Pullen, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division, highlighted the complexity and sophistication of Adegboruwa’s criminal enterprise, reminding that drug traffickers cannot hide their activities, even on the dark web.
