A U.S. District Judge, Christopher Boyko, has sentenced Oba Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, to 56 months in prison for his role in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fund fraud.
According to the “United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio,” Oba Oloyede, a dual Nigerian and American citizen residing in Ohio, was convicted of creating and leading a scheme that “defrauded more than $4.2m from federal loan and grant programmes” intended to help small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oloyede pleaded guilty to six charges, including “conspiracy to commit wire fraud,” “engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property,” and “making and subscribing a false tax return.”
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In addition to his prison sentence, he must serve “three years of supervised release” and pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution.
He also forfeited his Medina home and $96,006.89 in “fraud proceeds seized by investigators.”
Court documents show that from April 2020 to February 2022, Oloyede conspired with 62-year-old Edward Oluwasanmi to submit fraudulent loan applications through the U.S. Small Business Administration, using programs like the “Paycheck Protection Programme” and the “Economic Injury Disaster Loan scheme.”
Oloyede, a tax preparer who owned five businesses, worked with Oluwasanmi, a tax client, to submit multiple fraudulent applications with falsified information.
This scheme secured about $1.2 million for Oluwasanmi’s businesses and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s entities.
Oloyede also filed fraudulent applications for some of his tax clients, receiving kickbacks of “between 15 and 20 per cent” of the loans, which he did not declare to the IRS.
Prosecutors stated that Oloyede used the money to buy “land, build a home, and purchase a luxury vehicle.” He was linked to a total of 38 fraudulent loan applications, amounting to $4,213,378.
His co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, was sentenced in July 2024 to 27 months in prison for his role in the fraud.
He was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and “return more than $1.2m in restitution.”
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