JUST IN: Top Nigerian monarch jailed in US
Royal crown (Image for illustration)
A U.S. court has sentenced the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Joseph Oloyede, to 56 months in prison over a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 relief fraud scheme.
Oloyede, 62, who holds dual U.S. and Nigerian citizenship, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, engaging in monetary transactions from criminally derived property, and filing false tax returns.
According to court documents, between April 2020 and February 2022, Oloyede and his associate, Edward Oluwasanmi, fraudulently obtained over $4.2 million from U.S. pandemic relief programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).
Investigators revealed that Oloyede used his businesses and those of his clients to file false applications, collecting kickbacks of up to 20% from the loans. The funds were used to acquire land, build a home, and purchase a luxury vehicle.
In addition to his prison term, the monarch was ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution, forfeit his Medina, Ohio home, and surrender nearly $100,000 in seized proceeds.
He will also serve three years of supervised release after completing his sentence.
His co-conspirator, Oluwasanmi, had earlier been sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.
The case was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force.
