A Senior Special Assistant to the Ogun State Governor, Abidemi Rufai, faces up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted of wire fraud.
According to the United States Department of Justice, wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison when it relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was alleged to have also filed fraudulent unemployment claims with Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania, and used variations of a single email address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.
By using this practice, Rufai allegedly made it appear that each claim was connected with a different email account.
The US Department of Justice stated on its website that Rufai caused the fraud proceeds to be paid out to online payment accounts such as ‘Green Dot’ accounts, or wired to bank accounts controlled by ‘money mules’. Some of the proceeds were then mailed to the Jamaica, New York address of Rufai’s relative.
Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, ordered the immediate suspension of Rufai, who is his close ally, in view of the gravity of the allegations.
The statement read, “The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has received the very disturbing news of the arrest of one of his political appointees, Mr Abidemi Rufai, in New York over alleged unemployment benefits fraud in the United States.
“In view of the gravity of these allegations, the governor has ordered the immediate suspension of the accused appointee. We will not condone any act bordering on criminality by anyone.”