Source: Mykhailo Polenok via Alamy Stock Photo

A man in the US who assisted a Nigeria-based criminal organization has been sentenced to a decade in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.46 million in restitution for his role in the group's business email compromise (BEC) fraud schemes.

Indianapolis-based Olugbenga Lawal worked with the criminal organization to defraud individuals and businesses across the United States using BEC and romance-based scams, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

Lawal, who is a Nigerian national, laundered money by converting the fraud dollars in multiple US bank accounts into Nigerian currency for the cybercrime group. He and his co-conspirators operated between January 2019 and June 2020, handling over $3.6 million in deposits.

Lawal was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison in the US.