A 60-year-old Nigerian man, Akinpelumi Olawale Oyewusi, has admitted guilt in a U.S. federal court over his role in a nationwide unemployment insurance fraud scheme.
Oyewusi, who lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. This information came from a statement by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland on Thursday.
This case is part of the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
Kelly O. Hayes, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, shared the guilty plea news alongside Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari from the Department of Homeland Security and Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito from the U.S. Department of Labor.
From September 2020 to at least March 2021, Oyewusi and others worked together to cheat state workforce authorities, including the Maryland Department of Labor, to get money from fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.
The statement explained, “Through the conspiracy, Oyewusi and his co-conspirators used the identities of real people to obtain fraudulent UI from the state of Maryland and other states.”
Once they got access to these funds, Oyewusi allegedly moved and withdrew the stolen money through electronic transfers and ATM withdrawals.
The statement mentioned that Oyewusi and his partners harmed people through identity theft and took money from state workforce authorities and financial institutions by redirecting unemployment insurance fund transfers and other fraudulent transactions.
Oyewusi was linked to at least $415,874.63 in actual losses and personally took at least $25,000 from the scheme.
The co-conspirators reportedly used victims’ personal information to file false unemployment insurance claims to different state workforce authorities, including the Maryland Department of Labor and the California Employment Development Department.
These claims used victims’ real Social Security numbers and names but lied about their unemployment status and work history to get unemployment insurance funds.
The conspirators allegedly received the money through bank-issued debit cards tied to bank accounts. These cards were sent to addresses in Maryland and other places.
Oyewusi accessed the money from the fraudulent claims and sent the funds to other members of the group after taking his share of the money.
During this scheme, Oyewusi also got alerts from the U.S. Postal Service, which helped him track the fraudulent unemployment insurance debit cards.
He withdrew thousands of dollars from cards issued in the names of the victims. “Typically, Oyewusi withdrew the maximum amount allowed from each card,” the statement noted.
Between December 2020 and March 2021, at least 18 ATM photos showed Oyewusi taking out $18,000 from unemployment insurance debit cards linked to six different fraudulent claims.
Bank records showed that Oyewusi withdrew about $69,000 from these unemployment insurance debit cards during the scheme.
Sentencing is set for Thursday, December 3, at 2 p.m.
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