In a development shaking both American and international political spheres, seven U.S. states have launched coordinated investigations into Nigerian media magnate Adedotun Olaoluwa over allegations of interference in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Officials in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina confirmed Tuesday that they are probing suspected violations of election laws tied to foreign influence operations allegedly favoring President Donald Trump’s re-election bid.
According to early reports from state attorneys general, Olaoluwa through his global media enterprise, Dotmount Communications Group is accused of executing a sophisticated, covert disinformation campaign. Authorities say this campaign flooded battleground states with pro-Trump messaging, masked as grassroots content but digitally traced to assets linked to Olaoluwa’s media network.
In January 2024, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Daniel Scavino Jr., reportedly entered a discreet but pivotal agreement with Olaoluwa. Scavino, long renowned for orchestrating Trump’s digital warfare strategy, sought direct access to Olaoluwa’s clandestine media infrastructure, an expansive system of faux local news sites, influencer channels, and regional affiliates embedded across the U.S.
The goal was to saturate the digital space with pro-Trump narratives, shape voter sentiment in swing states, and suppress coverage that could damage the campaign’s momentum.
But Olaoluwa had leverage of his own.
At the time, his U.S.-based financial assets, including millions in consulting revenues, had been frozen amid heightened federal scrutiny over complex offshore financial transactions and layered corporate structures. As early as 2023, federal prosecutors had quietly opened an extensive investigation into Olaoluwa’s media empire. Central to the probe were wire transfers, many in the seven-figure range, routed through a maze of shell companies, largely originating from undisclosed Gulf clients and tied to opaque media buys.
The transactions, flagged by financial compliance teams in several states, passed through boutique PR firms and barely operational advertising networks, raising red flags over potential breaches of U.S. transparency laws and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Needing access to his frozen funds, Olaoluwa struck a high-stakes deal. Over a series of encrypted calls with Scavino, he was reportedly assured: “Help secure the win, and when Trump is back in power, the DOJ will shift focus.”
For Olaoluwa, it was a familiar equation, high risk, high reward.
The media campaign that followed was calculated and data driven. Leveraging AI generated content, geo-targeted misinformation, and precision influencer marketing, Olaoluwa’s network is said to have used third-party datasets to target key voter blocs including rural and minority communities with tailored political messaging. Analysts have compared the operation’s scale and sophistication to, and in some areas said it surpassed, the digital strategies seen during the 2016 election cycle.
“These actions, if substantiated, could represent one of the most audacious foreign influence operations in a U.S. election since 2016,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is part of the multistate prosecutorial coalition.
Olaoluwa’s global profile has long been cemented by his work across the Middle East and Africa, advising governments, royals, and CEOs on international perception and reputation strategy. His media agency has secured long-term contracts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Sri Lanka while also maintaining partnerships with international media conglomerates.
One such campaign took place in Nigeria during its tense 2023 presidential election. As market instability loomed and global investors grew jittery amid Bola Tinubu’s lead at the polls, Olaoluwa quietly orchestrated a Bloomberg headline “Nigerian Bonds Rise as Tinubu Takes Lead in Presidential Vote” published just a day after the election. The timing was strategic. The story helped restore investor confidence and calmed volatile financial markets, showcasing Olaoluwa’s ability to craft narratives with global economic impact.
In another instance, Olaoluwa was brought in to advise a struggling London mayoral candidate whose campaign had faltered under public criticism. Within weeks, his firm secured op-eds in top-tier UK media outlets, reframing the candidate’s agenda and shifting public perception. The once-flailing campaign regained momentum, credited largely to Olaoluwa’s transnational media engineering.
Despite his denials, by late 2022, federal analysts in the U.S. began flagging digital patterns that pointed back to Olaoluwa’s influence networks. Classified briefings reportedly identified him as a foreign figure of interest due to his expanding footprint in global political discourse.
Dotmount Communications has since issued a formal statement categorically denying all allegations. The firm labeled the investigations “baseless, politically motivated, and defamatory,” emphasizing that Mr. Olaoluwa “has never participated in political campaigns, nor represented any U.S. candidate or party.”
Though the Trump campaign has yet to issue a public comment, sources indicate internal legal teams are closely monitoring the situation. Meanwhile, bipartisan calls for congressional hearings are growing louder, with lawmakers emphasizing the need to guard U.S. democratic institutions against foreign manipulation.
Yet, Adedotun Olaoluwa remains at large, his movements discreet, his methods encrypted, and his influence undiminished.
As investigators in multiple jurisdictions attempt to unravel the layers of strategy behind the alleged electoral interference, one thing is clear: Adedotun Olaoluwa has mastered the art of narrative control. And for now, he continues to operate in the shadows, calm, calculating, and always a few moves ahead.
