The Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has been sentenced to over four years in a United States prison for orchestrating a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud.
Oloyede, 62, holds both Nigerian and U.S. citizenship.
He was sentenced to 56 months imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko in Ohio.
Also, he was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after completing his jail term, repay $4,408,543.38 in restitution, and forfeit his Medina, Ohio home along with nearly $96,000 in illicit proceeds.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the monarch, alongside his co-conspirator Edward Oluwasanmi, led a scheme that exploited COVID-19 emergency loan programmes meant for struggling businesses under the U.S. CARES Act.
Between April 2020 and February 2022, they submitted fraudulent applications for loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Joseph Oloyede reportedly operated multiple businesses and a nonprofit, while Oluwasanmi owned three entities.
Collectively, they secured over $4.2 million in federal stimulus funds, with Oloyede alone receiving about $1.7 million.
Investigators revealed that the monarch also used his position as a tax preparer to submit fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications on behalf of his clients.
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In April, both Joseph Oloyede and Oluwasanmi pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax fraud charges, sealing their fate in the high-profile pandemic relief scam.
