Abuja – A traditional ruler from Osun State, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison in the United States for involvement in a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 relief fraud.
The 62-year-old monarch, who holds both U.S. and Nigerian citizenship, was on Monday handed a 56-month jail term by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko in Ohio.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Oba Oloyede will also serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, refund $4.4 million in restitution, and forfeit his home in Medina, Ohio, as well as nearly $100,000 traced to the fraudulent scheme.
Prosecutors revealed that Oloyede, working with a co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, exploited emergency loan programmes set up under the U.S. CARES Act to help struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between April 2020 and February 2022, the duo submitted dozens of false loan applications, using fake business details to secure over $4.2 million in federal relief funds.
Investigators further disclosed that Oloyede also applied for loans on behalf of some of his clients in exchange for kickbacks of up to 20 percent of the approved funds, which he failed to declare in his tax returns.
The funds were then used to acquire land, build a house, and purchase a luxury vehicle.
Oluwasanmi, also 62, was earlier sentenced in July to 27 months in prison. He was ordered to repay more than $1.2 million, forfeit a commercial property, and surrender over $600,000 in fraud proceeds.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the IRS Criminal Investigations unit, and the Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office as part of the U.S. government’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force.