The United States sought the forfeiture of more than $600,000 proceeds of fraud after the suspended Ogun State governor’s aide, Abidemi Rufai, pleaded guilty to the wire fraud charges.
Premium Times
The US government has petitioned the District Court in Tacoma to order the seizure of Abidemi Rufai’s $604,260 in interest from his wire fraud conviction.
The sum is approximately N252 million when converted at the official currency rate and N392 million when converted at the unpredictable parallel market rate.
Mr Rufai, an Ogun State government officer detained in May 2021, pled guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
Read also: Why Gov Abiodun aide, Rufai, should not be granted bail – U.S. Govt
According to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Rufai acknowledged to using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related jobless benefits.
He has been detained since his arrest in May 2021 at New York’s JFK airport. Mr Rufai was the Special Assistant to the Governor of Nigeria’s Ogun State at the time of his detention.
According to the plea bargain, Mr Rufai fraudulently obtained the personal identifying information of over 20,000 Americans in order to file more than $2 million in claims for federally funded benefits under a number of relief programs between 2017 and 2018. More than $600,000 was paid out by the different authorities involved.
On 4 August, the US government, through its lawyer, Nicholas Brown, petitioned the court to grant a forfeiture motion.
According to court records obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Brown based his application on the United States’ Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure.
The court was informed of Mr Rufai’s guilty plea to fraud on 3 May 2022 in the document.
According to the court documents, Mr Rufai scammed US residents of various quantities through the Washington Employment Security Department, where $350,763 was stolen.
Mr Rufai’s fraudulent operations cost the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services $10,166, and the US Small Business Administration $10,000, among other significant US institutions.
“The sum of these amounts is $604,260. Therefore, the United States is requesting an order of forfeiture in that amount, requesting the total proceeds defendant obtained from his wire fraud scheme,” the application read in part.
The government says it will “request the Attorney General apply any amounts it collects toward satisfaction of this forfeited sum to the restitution that is ordered.”
Rufai’s Serial Fraud Began in 2017
According to the plea bargain, Mr Rufai fraudulently obtained the personal identifying information of over 20,000 Americans in order to submit more than $2 million in claims for government funded benefits under a number of relief programs since 2017. More than $600,000 was paid out by the different authorities involved.
The most money was stolen from the Washington State Employment Security Department, which received $350,763 in bogus pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by the con politician.
In addition, the Nigerian made false pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states.
Mr Rufai further misled the SBA by attempting to receive Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) related to the COVID-19 outbreak. He submitted 19 fake EIDL applications between April 8, 2020, and June 26, 2020. The SBA awarded $10,000 based on the applicants.
Mr Rufai attempted to get more than $1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by filing 675 bogus claims between 2017 and 2020. On these claims, the IRS paid out $90,877.
According to court documents, Mr Rufai’s attempts to illegally benefit himself through fake disaster claims predate the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
In September and October 2017, for example, he filed 49 disaster relief claims related to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Mr Rufai submitted $24,500 in bogus claims and was rewarded $6,500 on 13 of them.
This paper previously reported that on May 17, 2021, the United States Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the Department of Justice’s resources in collaboration with agencies across government to strengthen efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud like the one perpetrated by Abidemi Rufai.
The FBI investigated Mr. Rufai’s case, with assistance from the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, and the United States Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General.
Sentence proposal
Prosecutors have decided to recommend a maximum sentence of 71 months in jail. According to a court document, the proposal is not binding on U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle.
The sentencing will take place on Monday, August 15, after the judge considers the sentencing guidelines and other statutory criteria.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the US government had submitted a 97,000-page document in court as part of evidence to be used against the defendant in preparation for trial.
“Discovery in this case is voluminous and complex,” the prosecution and defense wrote in a joint filing to request a postponement of the trial date, which was set for August 31, 2021.
The trial was postponed several times while Mr Rufai remained in custody.
Following his first denial of the accusations, the defendant acknowledged guilt in a plea deal submitted in May with the court. He is still awaiting sentencing.
Read also: Ogun Governor suspends aide, Rufai, arrested in the US for wire fraud
