Senior special assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Abidemi Rufai, better known as ‘Sandy Tang,’ has been nabbed in the United States over theft of over $350,000 unemployment benefits from the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rufai was apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in an attempt to flee home to Nigeria to evade the law enforcement agencies.
Taking to the Twitter page, the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) wrote that they have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief.
The FBI wrote: “Since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020, we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “This is the first, but will not be the last, significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of ESD fraud.”
“Greed is a powerful motivator. Unfortunately, the greed alleged to this defendant affects all taxpayers,” said Donald Voiret, Special Agent in Charge FBI Seattle. “The FBI and our partners will not stand idly by while individuals attempt to defraud programs meant to assist American workers and families suffering the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The criminal complaint alleges that Rufai used the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with ESD for pandemic-related unemployment benefits. Rufai also filed fraudulent unemployment claims with Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania. Rufai used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems. By using this practice, Rufai made it appear that each claim was connected with a different email account.
