From fake South African charities and recruited local money mules to US-based shell accounts and illicit crypto flows, an alleged multimillion-rand laundering pipeline has been exposed following South Africa’s extradition of six Nigerian men to the United States.
The alleged Black Axe syndicate members — Perry Osagiede, Collins Owhofsa Otughwor, Osariemen Eric Clement, Musa Mudashiri, Franklyn Edosa Osagiede and Prince Ibeabuchi Mark — were handed over to US federal authorities on Friday by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), known as the Hawks, in collaboration with Interpol South Africa.
Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale confirmed that the six were among eight suspects arrested in South Africa in 2021 during a joint law-enforcement operation.
A seventh suspect, Enorense Izevbigie, was extradited to the US in December 2024 and is currently awaiting trial, while the eighth, Toritseju Gabriel Otubu, remains out on R210 000 bail while appealing his extradition order.
Mogale said the suspects are alleged to have targeted more than 100 women in the United States, allegedly defrauding them of more than R100 million through online romance or love scams over several years. Among the alleged victims were pensioners and businesspeople who were reportedly targeted through sophisticated online relationships.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a recent statement that the group routinely coerced victims into opening US bank accounts or accessing existing accounts to funnel illicit proceeds directly to South Africa.
If convicted in the US, wire fraud and money-laundering counts each carry a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, alongside a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Though founded in 1977 as a student confraternity at the University of Benin in Nigeria, Black Axe’s most lucrative operation is cybercrime — a global network of scams and business-fraud schemes that evolved from simple email cons. It is estimated to have netted the organisation tens of billions of dollars and fuelled sprawling money-laundering operations worldwide.
Dr Ndubuisi Christian Ani, a senior researcher and project lead for African peace and security governance at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Addis Ababa, and author of the ISS report Black Axe puzzle in South Africa: layers of criminal culpability, said the suspects did not need to own South African bank accounts to access the funds.
Ani said the ISS research found four ways of accessing funds.
First, they relied on borrowed banking identities by using South Africans, overwhelmingly women, recruited as money mules, often through romantic relationships cultivated specifically for that purpose.
He added that the second method was the use of sham companies, fake churches and charity organisations whose business accounts received wired proceeds under the cover of trade, donations and charity.
For the third method, he said they used remittance platforms and cryptocurrencies accessed with false identities. Bank employees were also targeted and cultivated, which gave syndicates a human override inside the formal system itself.
“Fourth, they also receive ‘gifts’ sent from victims abroad or co-conspirators seeking to launder funds. These gifts range from laptops to luxury cars sent from relatives abroad. They sell the gifts informally for cash,” Ani stated.
Ani said funds are sent via multiple participants, including people who are not aware that they are accomplices.
He said that in romance scams, the most common method used by syndicates in South Africa was claiming to be an engineer deployed to South Africa who, at a later point, became involved in an accident or a construction-site emergency.
“They then ask the victims to send them money to address emergencies while promising to pay back. These scams follow months of patient emotional grooming of chosen victims, usually an older woman, who are made to transfer funds to their so-called loved ones,” he said.
Ani confirmed that the Black Axe movement was started at Nigerian universities as a student formation in the 1970s promoting Pan-Africanism.
He said while “crime is often linked to the Black Axe and other confraternities”, this did not mean the crimes were engineered by the entire organisation, but because individuals and groups involved in the crimes and money flows rely on the Black Axe’s global network.
“While the Black Axe is not itself a criminal enterprise, the confraternity comprises members residing across the globe who are sworn to secrecy, loyalty, and mutual support. Such brotherhood is the most conducive context for criminal syndicates to develop and thrive.”
Meanwhile, the police said this extradition demonstrates the continued cooperation between South African and international law enforcement in disrupting transnational organised crime.
In October 2025, the South African police and Interpol arrested a 41-year-old American, wanted in the US for multiple kidnappings, on a farm near Kanoneiland.
In 2022, a 28-year-old Nigerian national was arrested at a Sandton estate over an alleged R192 million phishing and cyberfraud scheme targeting US citizens.
Dr Noluthando Phungula, an international relations expert from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said despite diplomatic tensions between Washington and Pretoria, law enforcement was an area where the countries continued to display cooperation.
“The reality is that transnational crime is a much bigger threat that supersedes the existing Washington-Pretoria tensions. The fight against transnational crime creates a shared interest that is bigger than immediate political disagreements. This is a commendable commitment from both sides,” Phungula said.
gcwalisile.khanyile@nationalmg.co.za