Minnesota Oyinbo Woman Pleads Guilty To $9 Million Wire Fraud Scheme

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced today that a Sartell woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

According to court documents, Adelle Starin, 40, carried out a fraud conspiracy through a Minnesota business she founded and operated, Baby’s on Broadway, which sold baby products and toys, the U.S. attorney’s office confirmed.

As part of the scheme, Starin submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to TRICARE, a healthcare program under the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System, according to the department.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, TRICARE paid many of Starin’s fraudulent claims, but when TRICARE began rejecting them, Starin expanded her scheme to bring additional revenue into her business.

Starin created a company called Sunshine Medical LLC and falsely represented to two lenders—Liquid Capital Enterprises Corp. and Slope Tech Inc.—that she needed financing to buy inventory for Baby’s on Broadway from Sunshine Medical, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

In reality, Sunshine Medical had no business operations or revenue, the department stated.

To support her scheme, Starin created fake invoices from Sunshine Medical and sent them to the lenders using wire communications in interstate commerce, the department said.

Over the course of the scheme, Starin obtained more than $9 million in financing based on false representations, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Starin pleaded guilty on Dec. 19, 2024, in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud before Judge Jeffrey Bryan, the department announced.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date, the department confirmed.