US govt presents 97,000-page fraud evidence against Rufai, ex-aide to Ogun gov
The United States Government has submitted a 97,000-page fraud evidence against Abidemi Rufai, the suspended aide to the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, who was indicted for alleged conspiracy, wire fraud, and identity theft.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that Rufai was arrested at the JFK airport in New York on May 14, over an alleged $350,000 COVID-19 unemployment fraud in the United States.
The 97,000-page document was said to have been submitted to the U.S. District for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma, on July 26, by the prosecutor.
The documents noted that in the indictment, Rufai was said to have used the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with the Employment Security Department (ESD) for pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
Acting US Attorney, Tessa Gorman had alleged that Rufai filed fraudulent unemployment claims with Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania using variations of a single email address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.
Also, an application filed on August 3, 2021, based its assessment on the complexity of the case on the volume and nature of the evidence filed by the prosecution.
The government is also in the process of executing two additional electronic search warrants.
The 97,000-page stated: “The discovery includes electronic documents in a variety of formats. The material contains personal identifying information or sensitive financial information.”
Rufai was arraigned before the court on June 25, where he pleaded not guilty to all counts. The court then scheduled the trial for August 31 and set a pretrial motions deadline of July 23.
