By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – A former aide to the Governor of Ogun State, Abidemi Rufai, who was last year arrested over wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, has pleaded guilty to the charges in a United States of America district court in Tacoma.
In May 2021, Rufai was arrested at New York’s JFK Airport on his way to Nigeria, leading to his suspension by the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, May 3 2022, by the US Department of Justice, Rufai admitted using stolen identities to receive thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
It added that he also admitted to have obtained identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans since 2017 and submitted $2 million in claims for disaster relief and other federal benefits.
Rufai was said to have received more than $600,000 from his fraudulent activities.
However, 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, the DoJ added.
It said Rufai submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states including Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania.
The US authorities said Rufai has agreed to make full restitution to the defrauded agencies.
According to the statement, “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.
“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.”
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.
US District Judge, Benjamin Settle, will sentence the accused on August 15, 2022, based on sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.