Osun state politician and former Senior special assistant to Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state, Abidemi Rufai has been sentenced to Five years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Abidemi who was arrested in May 2021 at the John F Kennedy airport in New York City, peas jailed for his attempt to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United State government including approximately $500,000 from pandemic related unemployment benefits. Abidemi admittedly to using stolen identities to defraud US disaster programs and file fraudulent tax refunds.
Speaking at the sentencing hearing, Judge Benjamin H Settle said, “The motivation was greed, unrestrained greed and callousness towards those who have suffered.”
Abdemi Rufai chose to exploit the pandemic for personal gain, using stolen identities of Americans to support his lavish lifestyle overseas,” said Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers, the Justice Department‘s Director of COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement.
