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 regarding 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, the 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. He used variations of a single email
address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.
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.
Ogun State governor, in his reaction, described the arrest as
disturbing news and ordered the immediate suspension of Rufai. In a statement
by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, Abiodun ordered the immediate
suspension of Rufai, who is his close ally, because of the gravity of the
allegation, Punch reports.
The statement read, "The Ogun State Governor, Prince
Dapo Abiodun, has received the alarming 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.
"Because 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 with PUNCH Metro 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. Unfortunately, the governor of Ogun State
has chosen somebody of dubious 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."
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