BEVERLY HILLS, May 24, (THEWILL) – United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of New York, Ramon Reyes, has received a letter from the US Department of Justice, claiming that the Surety provided by Abidemi Rufai, the suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, is also a suspected fraudster.
THEWILL reports that, 42-year-old Rufai, who served as the Deputy Director-General of the Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organisation in the last governorship election in the state, was arrested on May 14 at the JFK Airport in New York in the US.
His arrest followed a criminal complaint of alleged wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department.
He was subsequently charged with defrauding the Washington State Employment Security Department of over $350,000.
The US Department of Justice, District of Washington, had said Rufai used the pseudonym Sandy Tang and the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with Employment Security Department for unemployment benefits last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The criminal complaint also said Rufai mailed some of the proceeds of his fraud to the Jamaica and New York addresses of his relatives with more than $288,000 deposits between March and August 2020.
Last Tuesday, his lawyer, Michael Barrow, said the accused person denied “involvement in these transactions.”
But Reyes ruled that a New York state resident and family friend of Rufai´s could post the bond and serve as Rufai´s custodian until his trial in Tacoma.
The Federal Magistrates in New York, USA, had earlier rejected the bail application because the suspect’s brother, Alaba Rufai, who is listed in the court records, told the court that he could not afford the $300,000 Surety bond for his bail.
But another surety, Nekpen Soyemi, a registered nurse, told the court that she would guarantee the $300,000 bond and allow Rufai to stay at her home.
The Magistrate Judge, Reyes, delayed the release of Rufai until May 25 to give enough time to federal prosecutors to appeal the order.
However, in a response to the bail order, Acting U.S. Attorney, Ms Tessa Gorma in a letter to the court alleged that Ms Soyemi is also a suspected fraudster and should not be allowed to stand as a Surety for Rufai.
Premium Times reported that Gorma also said the FBI is unable to confirm that the Surety owns a real property, as there are no records showing that she had an interest in the property listed in the court document.
The letter reads: “First, the FBI has conducted research into the Surety and has learned information indicating that the Surety is not an appropriate person to perform that role.
“In 2015, the Surety’s bank (Bank of America) issued a report naming the Surety as a suspect in an investigation into an email impersonation scheme.
“According to the bank’s report, a person purporting to be a donor deposited $134,000 into the bank account of a legitimate nonprofit. The ‘donor’ (who was never identified) then contacted the non-profit and stated that some of the deposited funds were intended for a different recipient.
“The donor asked the non-profit to wire the excess funds to three different accounts, one of which was a Bank of America account in the Surety’s name. The report indicates that the Surety then made cash withdrawals of the proceeds at two different B of A locations. The Surety did not respond to inquiries from Bank of America.
“Second, FBI’s research was unable to confirm that the Surety owns the listed real property. Mortgage and deed records for the property indicate that it was last purchased by an individual with the initials L.S.G. on November 7, 2014.
“The Surety has also submitted records showing that she has $335 in Robinhood investment account and $1,838 in a checking account. Neither submission suggests the Surety is in a position to secure a $300,000 bond.”
