The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a Nigerian who, though never having been to Maryland, was convicted in Greenbelt federal court of conspiring to launder money from a Laurel-based online scam that convinced elderly people seeking romance to part with a total of more than $1 million.
Without comment, the justices last week let stand a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld Seun Banjo Ojedokun’s conviction. The 4th Circuit said the federal law against conspiracy to launder money was validly enforced against his overseas participation in the scam because his Laurel co-conspirator, the plan’s mastermind, was in the United States.
In their failed bid for Supreme Court review, Ojedokun’s attorneys said the conviction cannot stand because Congress did not clearly state in the federal law 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.
“This case involves an individual non-U.S. citizen prosecuted for his conduct taking place wholly outside the United States, but resolution of the question presented also has important implications for businesses operating transnationally,” wrote Lawrence D. Rosenberg, Ojedokun’s lead attorney before the high court.
“As businesses continue to globalize and operate across…
