CU Tip Leads to 37-Month Prison Sentence for Texas Romance Fraudster

A federal judge sentenced a Texas man to 37 months in prison for running national online romance and investment schemes that were first reported to police after employees at the $467 million Westerly Community Credit Union in Rhode Island suspected one of its members was being scammed.

The credit union’s tip led to an FBI investigation and arrest of Fola Alabi, 52, of Richmond, Texas. He pleaded guilty in January in federal court in Providence, R.I., to felony charges of conspiracy and money laundering.

U.S. District Judge William E. Smith on Tuesday also ordered Alabi to pay $1,495,421 in restitution, which is the amount he helped steal from at least 35 seniors in 11 states. He admitted to creating phony companies and opened credit union and bank accounts that were used to launder funds, according to the United States Attorney’s office in Providence.

“Without launderers like (Alabi), many foreign-base fraudsters targeting elderly Americans could not reap the proceeds of their schemes,” federal prosecutors wrote in a Sentencing Memo to Judge Smith.

Alabi and co-conspirators, not identified in court documents, victimized at least 35 people, many of them retired or near retirement, who were conned into sending the fraudsters every dollar in their credit union or bank account or zeroing out their retirement accounts, federal prosecutors said. After the victims sent the money to Alabi’s Richmond, Texas address, he laundered their funds through credit union or bank accounts he controlled and wired the money overseas to China and India.

“The fraudsters’ methods were ruthless,” prosecutors said. “They cultivated false romantic relationships with the victims over months of (online) communications and used emotional manipulation to get victims to send money. For example, a co-conspirator pretending to be retired four-star General Austin Miller told a victim, ‘Why can’t you get the money? Do you want me to commit suicide?’”

After interviewing JH, a 78-year-old widow in Westerly, R.I., the FBI launched an investigation in early 2022 when they were contacted by local police.

JH stated during her initial interview with the Westerly Police Department that she recently sold her home and was attempting to withdraw the proceeds of the $240,000 in her Westerly Community account to send to “General Miller” at Full Circle Imports Exports, one of the fake companies owned by Alabi.

Lucky for JH, the $240,000 was never sent because employees at Westerly Community became suspicious that something was amiss and contacted police. The credit union put a hold on JH’s account, according to court documents.

The FBI investigation also found Alabi and his wife each opened separate accounts at the $1.3 billion First Service Credit Union in Houston, which were used to deposit victims’ funds and to launder the stolen money. In addition, they opened accounts at Bank of America and Comerica Bank, which were also used in the scheme.