A United States district court has sentenced Abidemi Rufai, suspended aide of Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun, to five years in prison for fraud.
Rufai was arrested at New York’s JFK Airport on his way to Nigeria in May 2021.
In May 2022, 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 dollars in claims for disaster relief and other federal benefits, and received more than $600,000 dollars.
The largest amount of fraud was committed against the Washington state employment security department, which paid out $350,763 dollars 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 which includes Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania.
In asking for a nearly six-year prison sentence, Cindy Chang, assistant United States attorney stated that Rufai’s scam hurt actual people who needed assistance.