Nigerian Man arrested for ‘defrauding’ U.S. of $10m COVID-19 unemployment benefits
A Nigerian has been arrested for allegedly conspiring to obtain at least $10 million COVID-19 unemployment benefits from the United States (U.S.) government.
A statement issued on Monday by the U.S. attorney’s office, district of Massachusetts, said Yomi Jones Olayeye (aka “Sabbie),” from Lagos was arrested on August 13.
Olayeye was picked up upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
According to the court, between March and July 2020, Olayeye and others defrauded three pandemic assistance programs administrated by the Massachusetts department of unemployment assistance; the traditional unemployment insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).
“Specifically, Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly used personally identifiable information (PII) they purchased over criminal internet forums to apply for UI, PUA and FPUC – falsely representing themselves to be eligible state residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the attorney’s office said.
Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly used the same fraudulently obtained PII to open U.S. bank and prepaid debit card accounts to receive the assistance payments.
