A federal court in the United States has sentenced Oluwole Adegboruwa, a 54-year-old Nigerian-born man, and his accomplice, Enrique Isong, 49, to a combined 40 years in prison for running a multimillion-dollar drug trafficking operation on the dark web.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah announced the sentencing on Friday. Adegboruwa was handed a 30-year prison term, lifetime supervised release, and a forfeiture order exceeding $20 million—the largest forfeiture ever imposed for such crimes in Utah. His co-defendant, Isong, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, between October 2016 and May 2019, Adegboruwa sold over 300,000 oxycodone pills through dark web marketplaces, generating $9.1 million in illicit proceeds. He led a sophisticated criminal enterprise that oversaw the sourcing, packaging, and distribution of pharmacy-grade drugs across the United States. Payments for the operation were primarily processed via cryptocurrency accounts under his control.
During the investigation, Adegboruwa admitted to creating and managing the drug trafficking operation, including handling its financial transactions and concealing its profits through digital currency.
U.S. Attorney Trina A. Higgins highlighted the significance of the conviction: “Protecting the community from illicit drugs and dismantling drug trafficking operations is a priority for my office and our law enforcement partners.”
Jonathan Pullen, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division, said: “This sentencing serves as a stark reminder that drug traffickers cannot hide their crimes, even in the anonymity of the dark web.”
Carissa Messick, from the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Phoenix Field Office, emphasized the importance of the forfeiture: “The magnitude of the forfeiture reflects the scale of the investigation and our unwavering commitment to tracing illicit money trails.”
The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
The prosecution team included Thaddeus J. May, Jennifer E. Gully, and Stewart M. Young from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
