Abidemi Rufai, suspended aide of Dapo Abiodun, governor of
Ogun, has pleaded guilty in a US district court in Tacoma to wire fraud and
aggravated identity theft.
Rufai was arrested at New York’s JFK Airport on his way to
Nigeria in May, 2021.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US department of justice said
Rufai admitted using stolen identities to receive thousands of dollars in
pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
He was also admitted to have since 2017 obtained identifying
information for more than 20,000 Americans, submitted $2 million in claims for
disaster relief and other federal benefits, and received more than $600,000,
The largest amount of fraud was committed against the
Washington state employment security department, which paid out $350,763 in
fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by Rufai.
Rufai was also said to have submitted fraudulent pandemic
unemployment claims in at least 17 other states including Hawaii, Wyoming,
Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania.
“Rufai also defrauded the Small Business Administration
(SBA) by attempting to obtain Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) tied to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 8,
2020, and June 26, 2020, he submitted 19 fraudulent EIDL applications. SBA paid out $10,000 based on the
applications,” the statement reads.
“Between 2017 and 2020, Rufai attempted to obtain more than
$1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by submitting 675 false claims. The IRS paid out $90,877 on these claims.
“Rufai’s efforts to enrich himself with false disaster
claims did not start with COVID-19. In
September and October 2017, he submitted 49 disaster relief claims connected to
Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. He
filed $24,500 in false claims and was paid on 13 claims totaling $6,500.”
The US authorities said Rufai has agreed to make full
restitution to the defrauded agencies.
Rufai faces up to 32 years in prison for wire fraud related
to a presidentially declared disaster and aggravated identity theft but the US
justice department said prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 71
months in prison.
It, however, added that the recommendation is not binding on
Benjamin Settle, US district judge, who will determine the appropriate sentence
on August 15, 2022, after considering the sentencing guidelines and other
statutory factors.
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