Popular Nigerian monarch jailed in US over COVID relief fraud

Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun state, has been sentenced to 56 months in prison for defrauding the United States government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Christopher Boyko, the trial judge, sentenced the Osun monarch on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

The judge ordered Oloyede to “serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543 in restitution”.

According to a statement released by the US attorney’s office in the northern district of Ohio, Oloyede will forfeit his residence at Medina and the sum of $96,006, which was earlier seized by investigators.

In April 2024, Oloyede was arrested alongside Edward Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, over the COVID-19 fraud.

The duo were charged in court on 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property.

According to the charge sheet, from April 2020 through February 28, 2022, Oloyede and Oluwasanmi submitted Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) applications containing false information for companies under their control.

They also allegedly submitted falsified tax and wage documents to support these applications.

“During the investigation, agents found that Oloyede operated as a tax preparer and owned five businesses and one nonprofit. His co-defendant—and tax client—Oluwasanmi, owned an additional three business entities; all were incorporated in Ohio,” the US government said.

“Both defendants used their businesses to submit loan applications using false information. They obtained approximately $1.2 million in SBA funds for Oluwasanmi’s entities and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s entities.”

The duo had pleaded guilty to some of the offences and submitted plea bargain agreements.

In July, the Nigerian pastor was sentenced to 27 months in prison for the fraud.