. Forfeits US home, additional $96,006.89
. Oba Oloyede to also serve three years supervised release after imprisonment, pay $4,408,543.38 restitution
A United States of America court, on Tuesday, sentenced the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, to more than four years in prison for COVID-19 emergency loan fraud to the tune of $4.2million.
Delivering judgment on the matter, U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko jailed the 62-year-old Osun monarch, who is also a US citizen resident in Medina, Ohio, 56 months.
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio said in a statement on Tuesday, that the US court also ordered the convicted Osun monarch to “serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution.
The statement added, “He also forfeited his Medina home on Foote Road, which he had acquired with proceeds of the scheme, and an additional $96,006.89 in fraud proceeds investigators had seized.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Oba Oloyede led a conspiracy to exploit COVID-19 emergency loan programmes created for struggling businesses.
The statement further said, “From about April 2020 to February 2022, Oloyede and his co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, conspired to submit fraudulent applications for loans that were made available through the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.”
Recall that both Oba Oloyede and Oluwasanmi, in April, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax fraud charges linked to a pandemic relief scam that siphoned over $4.2million in Federal stimulus funds.
Prosecutors told the court that Oloyede, who also worked as a tax preparer, “operated five businesses and one nonprofit, while Oluwasanmi owned an additional three business entities.
“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 elaborate fraud went even further with investigators alleging that “Oloyede submitted fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications in the names of some of his clients and their businesses.
“In exchange, Oloyede would receive 15-20% of their loans as the fee, or kickback, for obtaining the loans for them, without reporting this income to the IRS on his own tax returns.”
The prosecutors stated that the funds were then used for personal gain.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office further disclosed that “investigators learned that the defendant used funds obtained from these loans to acquire land and build a home and purchase a luxury vehicle.”
It added that Oba Oloyede “caused the SBA to approve 38 fraudulent applications, amounting to $4,213,378 in disbursed loans and advances.”
In July, the Osun monarch’s co-conspirator, Oluwasanmi resident in Willoughby, was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
The court also ordered 62-year-old Oluwasanmi to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution, forfeit a commercial property purchased with fraud proceeds, and surrender more than $600,000 held in financial accounts.
Stressing the significance of Oba Oloyede’s conviction, the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that the case was jointly investigated by the Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General, the FBI Cleveland Division, and IRS-Criminal Investigations as part of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force.
The statement further said, “This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Edward D. Brydle and James L. Morford for the Northern District of Ohio.”
