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.
Rufai, who served as the Deputy Director-General of the Dapo
Abiodun Campaign Organisation in the last governorship election in the state,
was arrested on Friday at the JFK Airport in New York, United States of
America, on a criminal complaint of wire fraud for his scheme to steal over
$350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security
Department, the acting US Attorney, Tessa M. Gorman, announced.
Rufai, aka Sandy Tang, 42, of Lekki, Lagos, made his initial
appearance in court on Saturday May 15, 2021, in New York. He is scheduled for
a detention hearing today (Wednesday).
“Since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020,
we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the
criminals, who stole funds designated for pandemic relief. This is the first,
but will not be the last, significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of
the ESD fraud,” Gorman said.
The criminal complaint alleges that Rufai used the stolen
identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with
the ESD for pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
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 e-mail 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.
Law enforcement determined that more than $288,000 was
deposited into an American bank account controlled by Rufai between March and
August 2020.
“Greed is a powerful motivator. Unfortunately, the greed
alleged to this defendant affects all taxpayers,” said Donald Voiret, Special
Agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Seattle.
“The FBI and our partners will not stand idly by while
individuals attempt to defraud programmes meant to assist American workers and
families suffering the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
The governor, in his reaction, described the arrest as
disturbing news, and ordered the immediate suspension of Rufai.
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.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State has
described Rufai’s arrest as an embarrassment.
The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Sikitullah Ogundele,
said this in an interview on Tuesday.
He said the arrest of Rufai showed that people of
questionable characters were in the political system.
Ogundele stated, “People of questionable character should be
kept away from our system. It is unfortunate that the governor of Ogun State
has chosen somebody of questionable character and it is an embarrassment to the
entire state.
“It is not the fault of the person that appointed him, but
personalities must be well vetted before they are given appointments.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com