$10M COVID-19 FRAUD: US COURT SETS NIGERIAN’S SENTENCING FOR AUGUST
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A United States of America District Judge, Mark Wolf, has scheduled the sentencing of a Nigerian, Yomi Olaleye, for August 13, 2025, after the defendant pleaded guilty to his role in a $10 million COVID-19 fraud.
The US Department of Justice disclosed this in a statement on its website obtained on Thursday.
It was reported on August 20, 2024, that Olaleye was arrested upon arrival in the US over his alleged role in a $10m pandemic unemployment assistance fraud scheme.
The US DoJ had stated that following his arrest, he was arraigned before a federal court in the US on August 14, 2024, on three counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The statement read, “A Nigerian man was arrested on August 13, 2024, upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on charges that he and others conspired to fraudulently obtain at least $10m in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.
“Yomi Jones Olaleye, a.k.a. ‘Sabbie,’ 40, of Lagos, Nigeria, is charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
“He made an initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York on August 14, 2024, and will appear in federal court in Boston tomorrow.”
In a follow-up statement obtained on Thursday, the US DoJ noted that Olaleye pleaded guilty to the three counts he was indicted on.
Following his guilty plea, Judge Wolf reserved his sentencing for August 13, 2025.
It read, “A Nigerian man has pleaded guilty in connection with a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain at least $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.
“Yomi Jones Olaleye, a.k.a. ‘Sabbie,’ 40, of Lagos, Nigeria, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Senior United States District Judge Mark L. Wolf scheduled sentencing for August 13, 2025.”
The statement noted that Olaleye now risks a maximum sentence of 22 years for the three counts he was indicted on.
“The charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, forfeiture, and restitution.
“The charge of aggravated identity theft calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutively to any sentence imposed on the wire fraud charge,” the statement continued.
Recalling the role of Olaleye in the fraudulent scheme, the statement noted that between March and July 2020, he and other co-conspirators defrauded three pandemic assistance programmes administered by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and other states’ unemployment insurance agencies.
The defendant, alongside his co-conspirators, was said to have used fake identities to file benefit claims and used the fake identities to open bank accounts to receive the benefit payments.
The received funds were reportedly used to buy Bitcoin and to conceal the fraud by using Internet Protocol addresses of computers based in the US.
“In total, Olaleye and his co-conspirators allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent UI, PUA, and FPUC from Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio, and Washington, and received more than $1.5 million in assistance to which they were not entitled,” the statement noted.
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