Nigerian Pleads Guilty To $415,874 US Unemployment Insurance Fraud

A 60-year-old Nigerian national, Akinpelumi Olawale Oyewusi, has pleaded guilty in a United States federal court to charges stemming from his involvement in a cross-country unemployment insurance fraud scheme.

Oyewusi, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a statement issued by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

The prosecution is part of the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

US Attorney for the District of Maryland, Kelly O. Hayes, announced the guilty plea alongside Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito of the US Department of Labour Office of Inspector General.

According to his guilty plea, Oyewusi and others, between September 2020 and at least March 2021, conspired to defraud state workforce authorities, including the Maryland Department of Labour, by obtaining fraudulent unemployment insurance funds.

“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,” the statement said.

After obtaining access to the funds, Oyewusi allegedly transferred and withdrew the stolen money through electronic transfers and ATM withdrawals.

The prosecution said Oyewusi and his co-conspirators victimised individuals through identity theft, state workforce authorities through the theft of unemployment insurance funds, and a financial institution by misdirecting unemployment insurance fund transfers and carrying out fraudulent transactions.

Oyewusi was directly connected to at least $415,874.63 in actual losses and personally obtained at least $25,000 through his participation in the scheme.

The co-conspirators allegedly used victims’ personally identifiable information to submit false unemployment insurance claims to various state workforce authorities, including the Maryland Department of Labour and the California Employment Development Department.

The claims contained victims’ real Social Security numbers and names but falsified their unemployment status and previous work history to obtain unemployment insurance funds.

The conspirators allegedly received the funds through bank-issued debit cards linked to bank accounts, with the cards mailed to addresses in Maryland and elsewhere.

Oyewusi then accessed funds from the fraudulently opened claims and transferred the money to other members of the conspiracy after taking his share of the proceeds.

Throughout the scheme, Oyewusi also received incoming mail alerts from the US Postal Service, enabling him to track the fraudulent unemployment insurance debit cards.

He subsequently withdrew thousands of dollars from cards issued in the victims’ names.

“Typically, Oyewusi withdrew the maximum amount allowed from each card,” the statement said.

Between December 2020 and March 2021, at least 18 ATM photographs captured Oyewusi withdrawing $18,000 from unemployment insurance debit cards issued to six different fraudulent claims.

Bank records indicated that Oyewusi withdrew approximately $69,000 from the same unemployment insurance debit cards throughout the scheme.

His sentencing has been scheduled for Thursday, December 3, at 2 p.m.