Osun Monarch Bags Four-Year Jail Term In US Over N6.4bn ($4.2m) COVID Fraud

Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has been sentenced to more than four years in prison in the United States over $4.2 million (approximately N6.4bn) COVID-19 fraud.

Christopher Boyko, the trial judge, sentenced the Osun monarch on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, in a statement on Tuesday, the monarch was also ordered to “serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution.

“He also forfeited his Medina home on Foote Road, which he had acquired with proceeds of the scheme, and an additional $96,006.89 in fraud proceeds investigators had seized,” the statement read.

In April 2024, Oloyede was arrested alongside Edward Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, over the COVID-19 fraud.

The duo were charged in court on 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property.

According to the charge sheet, from April 2020 through February 28, 2022, Oloyede and Oluwasanmi submitted Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) applications containing false information for companies under their control.

They also allegedly submitted falsified tax and wage documents to support these applications.

“During the investigation, agents found that Oloyede operated as a tax preparer and owned five businesses and one nonprofit. His co-defendant—and tax client—Oluwasanmi, owned an additional three business entities; all were incorporated in Ohio,” the US government said.

“Both defendants used their businesses to submit loan applications using false information. They obtained approximately $1.2 million in SBA funds for Oluwasanmi’s entities and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s entities.”

The duo had pleaded guilty to some of the offences and submitted plea bargain agreements.

In July, the Nigerian pastor was sentenced to 27 months in prison for the fraud.  (Intelregion)