Scam king Rotimi Oladimeji nabbed again in US migrant raid

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested a Nigerian man, Rotimi Oladimeji, whose past conviction for a $1.1 million fraud scheme had already drawn global attention.

Oladimeji, 38, was picked up in New Orleans during an ongoing operation targeting illegal and criminal migrants ordered by President Donald Trump.

ICE, in a statement on its official X handle on Monday, described Oladimeji as a “criminal alien” with a record of mail and wire fraud, adding that he had been ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution before his latest arrest.

Court records show that Oladimeji was sentenced to three years in a U.S. federal prison in 2023 for helping Nigerian scammers defraud a woman who believed she was in a romantic relationship with a fictitious American veterinarian. The victim lost nearly $1.17 million in the elaborate online romance scam.

Prosecutors said Oladimeji pocketed 20 percent of the funds, while accomplices funnelled the rest back to Nigeria.

Though he completed his jail term, U.S. authorities had placed him under deportation watch. His re-arrest now comes as part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal migrants, which has seen thousands rounded up across the U.S. in recent weeks.