Tammy Olaiya, Cocaine Smuggling, Bank Fraud, Virginia 2020

Alexandria, Va. – In a brazen display of criminality, Tammy Olaiya, a 40-year-old Nigerian national, pleaded guilty to leading a conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

According to court documents, Olaiya recruited men from the greater Washington, D.C. area to act as drug couriers, traveling to foreign countries to obtain drugs to bring back into the United States. Olaiya opened bank accounts in the couriers' names, assisted them in obtaining passports and visas, and booked their travel arrangements.

Law enforcement seized nearly seven kilograms of cocaine at three different U.S. airports from three separate couriers recruited by Olaiya.

Olaiya also submitted falsified and fraudulent claims to the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance, a health care benefit program funded by Medicaid. She worked as a personal care aide for various home health agencies in the Washington D.C. area and submitted timesheets signed by her clients documenting the services rendered.

However, instead of submitting time sheets for time actually worked providing health care services, Olaiya recruited Medicaid recipients to act as her 'patients' and to sign her falsified timesheets in return for a small amount of money as a kickback.

Separate and apart from the cocaine importation and the home health services scheme, Olaiya also used her African goods business in Maryland to carry out a bank fraud. Olaiya used accounts with payment platforms Square and Stripe to make fraudulent charges on stolen credit card numbers.

Tammy Olaiya, 40, a Nigerian national residing in Hyattsville, Maryland, faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for the cocaine importation charge when sentenced on February 28, 2020.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/nigerian-woman-pleads-guilty-drug-trafficking-and-fraud-schemes