A United States district court has sentenced Abidemi Rufai, a suspended aide of Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, to five years’ imprisonment for fraud.
The court in Western Tacoma in Washington jailed Rufai, 45, on Monday for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, saying he attempted to steal nearly $2.4 million from the US government, including approximately $500,000 in Covid-19 pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
According to a statement by the US Department of Justice for the Western District of Washington, Rufai admitted a long history of using stolen identities to defraud U.S. disaster programmes, including aid for Hurricane Harvey and Irma, and file fraudulent U.S. tax returns.
It noted that although Rufai has agreed to pay full restitution of $604,260 to the defrauded agencies, he has not fully cooperated with efforts to identify and forfeit assets that could be used for restitution.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, “The motivation was greed, unrestrained greed, and a callousness towards those who have suffered.”
