The Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede, has been sentenced to 56 months in a United States federal prison over a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 loan scam.
The 62-year-old traditional ruler, who holds both Nigerian and American citizenship and resides in Medina, Ohio, was convicted alongside his associate, Edward Oluwasanmi, for wire and tax fraud connected to fraudulent pandemic relief claims.
In a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday, August 26, District Judge Christopher A. Boyko also ordered Oloyede to pay restitution of $4.4 million, forfeit his Medina residence purchased with fraud proceeds, and surrender an additional $96,000 traced to the scheme.
He will also serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
According to prosecutors, the monarch exploited the U.S. government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act by submitting 38 fraudulent applications for loans under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).
“From about April 2020 to February 2022, Oloyede and his co-conspirator, Oluwasanmi, knowingly provided false information to obtain emergency relief funds meant to help struggling businesses survive the pandemic,” the statement read.
Investigators revealed that Oloyede, who also worked as a tax preparer, not only used his own businesses and a nonprofit to obtain $1.7 million in loans but also filed applications on behalf of some of his clients. He allegedly collected 15 to 20 percent kickbacks from the amounts disbursed to those clients without declaring the income on his tax returns.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Brydle, who prosecuted the case alongside James L. Morford, emphasized the seriousness of the fraud:
“These funds were intended to save jobs and sustain businesses during an unprecedented crisis. Instead, the defendants diverted them for personal enrichment.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office further disclosed that the monarch spent portions of the illicit proceeds on real estate, construction of a house, and the purchase of a luxury vehicle.
His partner in the scheme, Oluwasanmi, 62, of Willoughby, Ohio, had earlier been sentenced in July to 27 months in prison. He was ordered to return $1.2 million, forfeit a commercial property bought with the fraud money, and surrender more than $600,000 held in financial accounts.
The case was investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division, IRS Criminal Investigations, and the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, operating under the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s Fraud Task Force.
“This sentencing underscores our commitment to holding accountable those who sought to take advantage of a national emergency for personal gain,” prosecutors said.