Man pleads guilty to offering advance vaccines on fake site

Federal authorities said a man pleaded guilty in a scheme to sell advance coronavirus vaccines from a fraudulent website.

Odunayo “Baba” Oluwalade and his co-conspirators used a website nearly identical to Moderna’s to sell COVID-19 vaccines for $30 per dose, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“You may be able to buy a covid-19 vaccine ahead of time. Contact us,” read a notice on the fake site, which had a domain of “Modernatx.shop,” officials said. Moderna’s legitimate site has no such message and its domain is “Modernatx.com,” they noted.

The DOJ said Oluwalade, who is a 25-year-old from Maryland, provided access in November 2020 to a bank account that he knew would be used in the fraudulent plan.

An undercover agent allegedly purchased $6,000 worth of shots from the site and was instructed to send payment to the bank account to which Oluwalade had obtained access. 

Investigators seized the fake website’s domain in January and conducted search warrants, including one at the home of a co-conspirator who owned the bank account, according to court documents. Authorities said investigators used the phone of the bank account’s owner to send Oluwalade a message regarding payment for the purchase of vaccine doses and confirmed his participation in the conspiracy.

The DOJ said that Oluwalade, who claimed he was unaware of the scheme’s details and was to be paid for providing access to the account, could face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher had not scheduled a sentencing date as of Friday for Oluwalade, according to the DOJ statement.

Cases against other two men charged in the alleged scheme are pending, according to The Washington Post.