US court jails Nigerian for six years in $5m COVID-19 relief fraud

A United States District Court has sentenced 34-year-old Nigerian, Adepoju Babatunde Salako, to six and a half years in federal prison for orchestrating a $5 million fraud targeting COVID-19 pandemic relief programmes.

Salako, a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, and the court also ordered him to pay $2,581,002.50 in restitution to victims, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Justice.

As part of his plea agreement, Salako additionally admitted guilt to seven more counts of wire fraud in the District of Alaska. Court documents revealed that the elaborate scheme took place throughout most of 2021, exploiting federal and state economic relief initiatives, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programme, and 30 state unemployment programmes.

Investigators said Salako, together with two accomplices, used stolen identities to secure fraudulent PPP loans and unemployment benefits, laundering the proceeds primarily to China and Nigeria. Salako reportedly charged a fee of about 25 per cent for moving the illicit funds.

“The defendant and his co-conspirators exploited innocent people and stole millions from American taxpayers,” said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, Peter McNeilly. “This sentence demonstrates that fraudsters will face severe consequences for abusing public trust.”

Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area, added that the sentence serves as a warning to anyone attempting to exploit government resources for personal gain.