Dublin man jailed for laundering over €1 million

A man has been sentenced to nearly five and a half years in prison for laundering over €1 million linked to online fraud and bank scams. Thirty-year-old Sodiq Jimoh, from Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to aiding an organized crime group and committing nine counts of money laundering between May 2019 and August 2020. He was set to keep 30% of the laundered money. One of the victims was a woman in her 70s. Judge Martin Nolan described Jimoh as "an intelligent, competent and very busy man," which contributed to his recruitment into the criminal organization. Jimoh played a crucial role in withdrawing money from bank accounts set up by so-called money mules. He also accessed online banking of victims to transfer cash. He used a six-digit access number sent to his phone to control bank accounts and was seen on CCTV withdrawing cash from ATMs. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau’s Operation Skein targeted Jimoh, focusing on frauds involving two Ulster Bank accounts. These accounts had been stripped of over €387,000 and €83,000, and Jimoh's phone number was linked to them. Investigators linked his accounts with lodgements totaling €26,000. Conversations on WhatsApp revealed that he openly discussed money laundering, referring to it as "free money." Today, Judge Nolan sentenced Jimoh to five years and four months in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.