Senior Special Assistant to Governor of Ogun State, and Former House of Reps Aspirant, Abidemi Rufai, has been arrested and charged for an alleged fraud case in the US.
Rufai has been accused of defrauding the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was suspected in the $650m unemployment fraud, after he submitted dozens of unemployment claims, using stolen identities between March and October 2020.
According to reports, the 42-year-old suspect used a single Gmail account to file 102 claims for ESD benefits, also used it to file for benefits in some states.
He was alleged to have bypassed security systems at ESD with his Gmail, allowing him to create additional addresses.
A Federal Judge in January, had issued a warrant to Gmail to allow further investigation. A Nigerian number linked to the account was traced back to Rufai.
The account held a fake name to it, however, the number was traced back to the account he made in 2019 U.S visa application.
A Google Drive account associated with the Gmail account also includes pictures he used in the visa application and other essential documents. The number tracing also leaked his brother’s address in Jamaica, with New York as the billing address.
Rufai was arrested on Friday, May 14, 2021 at the New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport by Federal agents when he was planning to flee the states. He is facing up to 30 years in prison.
“I want to thank our partners in law enforcement for their continued efforts to hold criminals accountable for their attacks on our unemployment insurance system,” ESD Acting Commissioner, Cami Feek said in a statement on Monday.
Rufai appeared in Federal Court on Saturday on charges of fraud and theft. He is scheduled for detention hearing on Wednesday and the case will be prosecuted in Federal court in Tacoma.
Rufai is suspected of defrauding unemployment programmes in Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
His account shows a bank record of $288,825 which was deposited into his bank account.
According to reports gathered, Rufai’s original email is Sandytangy58@gmail.com before he made others like san.dyta.ngy58@gmail.com and sa.ndyt.a.ngy58@gmail.com.
