Gov. Abiodun’s ex- aide, Rufai sentenced in US for wire fraud, identity theft

Abidemi Rufai, a former special assistant to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, who was arrested last year in the United States and charged for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft has been sentenced to a five-year jail term.

Rufai was sacked by Governor Dapo Abiodun last year following his arrest and subsequent indictment for fraud.

According to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington signed U.S. Attorney Nick Brown, Rufai was jailed for his attempt to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United States government, including approximately $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits,

sRufai admitted a long history of using stolen identities to defraud U.S. disaster programs, including aid for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and file fraudulent U.S. tax returns.  At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, “The motivation was greed, unrestrained greed, and callousness towards those who have suffered.”

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“Mr. Rufai was relentless in his scheme to use the stolen identities of Americans for fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

“He orchestrated ‘mystery shopper’ scams, business email compromise attempts, and filed fake tax returns to financially harm individuals and businesses. But when disaster struck, so did Mr. Rufai. Whether it was hurricane disaster relief, small business loans, or COVID unemployment benefits, he stole aid that should have gone to disaster victims in the United States.”

According to records filed in the case, since 2017, Rufai stole the personal identifying information of more than 20,000 Americans to submit more than $2 million in claims for federally funded disaster relief benefits and fraudulent tax returns.  The various agencies involved paid out more than $600,000.

The largest amount of fraud was committed against the Washington State Employment Security Department, which paid out $350,763 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by Rufai.  Rufai also submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states.

Between 2017 and 2020, Rufai attempted to obtain more than $1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by submitting 675 false claims.  The IRS paid out $90,877 on these claims.

Rufai has agreed to pay full restitution of $604,260 to the defrauded agencies, however he has not fully cooperated with efforts to identify and forfeit assets that could be used for restitution.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and the United States Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD).