A Nigerian who had never been to Maryland over the course of a Laurel-based online scam, which convinced elderly people seeking romance to part with a total of more than $1 million, has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn his conviction for conspiring to launder money.
In papers filed with the justices, Seun Banjo Ojedokun’s attorneys said the conviction cannot stand because Congress did not clearly state in the federal law against conspiracy to launder money that the statute applies “extraterritorially,” to actions outside the United States.
Without a clear congressional statement, a federal law must be presumed to apply solely to domestic activities, the lawyers stated, noting that Ojedokun was in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ojedokun is appealing a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld his conviction in the federal district court in Greenbelt. The 4th Circuit said the federal law was validly enforced against his overseas participation in the conspiracy activity because his Laurel co-conspirator, the plan’s mastermind, was in the United States.
In their petition for Supreme Court review, Ojedokun’s attorneys pressed the justices to apply to federal criminal laws the same presumption against foreign — or “extraterritorial” — application they have applied to civil statutes that lack a clear statement from Congress that they are to apply abroad.
The attorneys stated that a U.S. connection is insufficient to criminalize a money…
