- Safiu Kehinde
A 40 year-old Nigerian man, identified as Yomi Jones Olayeye, has been arrested in the United States over alleged theft of $10 million unemployment benefits.
This was disclosed in statement issued from the United States Attorney’s Office.
According to the statement, Olayeye was arrested upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on charges that he, and others, conspired to fraudulently obtain at least $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.
He was charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Olayeye reportedly made an initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York on Aug. 14, 2024.
His charging document, as contained in the statement, read in part; “between March and July 2020, Olayeye and others defrauded three pandemic assistance programs administrated by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and other states’ unemployment insurance agencies: traditional unemployment insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).
“In total, Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent UI, PUA and FPUC from Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio and Washington and received more than $1.5 million in assistance to which they were not entitled.”
Following his appearance at the Federal Court in Boston today, Olayeye risks 20 year jail term if found guilty as charged.