A Nigerian national has been sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison for his role in a scheme to steal unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Olamide Yusuf Bakare, 26, was sentenced on January 2023 in Sacramento, California.
According to court documents, Bakare, along with co-defendants Quazeem Owolabi Adeyinka and Ayodeji Jonathan Sangode, and others, participated in a conspiracy to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims to the States of Maryland and California between June 2020 and July 2021.
More than 200 individual applications were filed with the California Employment Development Department and the Maryland Department of Labor indicating that the claimants’ address was the Hyattsville, Maryland, apartment that the defendants shared.
The conspirators obtained the personally identifiable information of persons who were not eligible for UI or PUA benefits or who did not authorize the conspirators to act on their behalf with respect to seeking such benefits. Such PII included names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.
The conspirators then used the PII to submit dozens of fraudulent UI and PUA claims to the California Employment Development Department and the Maryland Department of Labor under the putative claimants’ identities and without their authorization.
Bakare was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As part of the sentence, a condominium in Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria, valued at $70 million Naira, was ordered forfeited.
Related Federal Cases
- McKenzie Marie Earley, $10M Wire Fraud, C.D. California, 2023 · Louisiana
- Jaime Mayorga, Wire Fraud Conspiracy, California 2024 · California
- Brendan Ross, Wire Fraud Scheme, California 2024 · Louisiana
- Henry Lo, Wire Mail Fraud, California 2023 · California
- Consuelo “Connie” Puente, Wire Fraud, CA, 2023 · California
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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