U.S. Court Jails Nigerian Over $5m COVID-19 Relief Fraud

A United States District Court has sentenced a Nigerian national, Adepoju Babatunde Salako, to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a multi-million dollar COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud scheme. The sentence, handed down, is equivalent to six and a half years behind bars.

Salako, 34, who resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of money laundering conspiracy related to the fraud, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Justice. As part of his plea agreement, he also admitted guilt to seven additional counts of wire fraud in the District of Alaska.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy involved multiple layers of deception. In one scheme, Salako and two co-conspirators used information belonging to identity theft victims to obtain Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and unemployment benefits. They also submitted fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds. Some co-conspirators based in Nigeria used romance scam victims as part of the operation, exploiting their trust to secure funds illegally.

Salako’s role included receiving illicit funds from both the fraudulent government relief payments and victims of the romance-related schemes. He then laundered those proceeds to accounts in China and Nigeria for a fee of about 25 percent of the fraud proceeds.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Salako to pay $2,581,002.50 in restitution to the victims of the fraud. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said the sentence reflects the government’s determination to pursue and punish elaborate financial crimes that exploit emergency programmes and vulnerable individuals.

Peter McNeilly, U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, said the case shows the consequences of using public trust to commit crime. “These criminals will pay a high price for their actions,” McNeilly said. Representatives from the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General warned that severe penalties await those who abuse government resources.