Canada-based Sakiru Olanrewaju Ambali has been extradited to the United States, for allegedly defrauding the pandemic unemployment benefit programmes in many states in the country.
This was revealed by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington.
A recent statement issued by the US Attorney’s Office stated that Ambali, 45, was arrested in February 2023, in Frankfurt, Germany, when he travelled back to Canada from Nigeria, and has since been detained in Germany pending extradition,
He made his initial appearance in US District Court in Tacoma recently after arriving in the Western District of Washington.
Ambali and co-defendant Fatiu Ismaila Lawal, 45, are accused of using the stolen identities of thousands of Americans to submit over 1,700 claims for pandemic unemployment benefits to over 25 different states.
According to the indictment, Lawal and Ambali stole personal information of thousands of US taxpayers and residents and used it to file fraudulent claims for COVID-19 pandemic assistance and false tax returns seeking refunds. In total, the claims sought approximately $25 million, but the conspirators got around $2.4 million, primarily from pandemic unemployment benefits.
The co-conspirators allegedly submitted claims for pandemic unemployment benefits to over 25 states including New York, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Washington. Using 13 Google accounts they filed some 900 claims. Also, the suspects allegedly established four internet domain names that they then used for fraud and created 800 different email addresses that they used for fraud.
Lawal and Ambali allegedly filed over 2,300 fraudulent income tax returns seeking over $7.1 million in tax refunds. The IRS caught most of the fraud and remitted only about $30,000 in fraudulent refunds.
Also, the suspects attempted to use the stolen American identities for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to defraud the Small Business Administration.
The indictment states that Lawal and Ambali had the proceeds of their fraud wired to cash cards or to “money mules” who transferred the funds according to instructions given by them. They also allegedly used stolen identities to open bank accounts and deposited the money directly into those accounts for their use.
Lawal and Ambali are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, ten counts of wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.
Lawal is still in Canada, awaiting extradition.
The statement noted that conspiracy and wire fraud counts are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum of two years in prison to run consecutive to any other prison time imposed in the case.
The statement said: “The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the statement said.
“The National Unemployment Fraud Task Force provided a lead on this case to the investigative team in Western Washington.
“The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). Also contributing to the investigation were Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and the Small Business Administration (SBA).”
According to reports, the case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Cindy Chang and Seth Wilkinson of the Western District of Washington, while the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs is said to be assisting.
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