- Safiu Kehinde
The Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has been sentenced to four years and eight months imprisonment by a United States District Court over internet scam.
Oloyede was, according to the US Department of Justice, sentenced on Tuesday by Justice Christopher Boyko after being found guilty in $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud scandal.
Justice Boyko, in his verdict, ordered the Osun monarch to pay $4.2 million in restitution as well as the sum of $195,000 to the IRS for filing a false tax return.
Oloyede was also ordered to forfeit $96,000 in money seized from his bank account and his home on Foote Road that he bought in 2021 for $130,000.
The judge described the Osun monarch as a “very smart guy who did a lot of stupid things.”
He said he would have sentenced the monarch to more prison time if it weren’t for his health issues.
According to reports, Oba Oloyede, a US-based accountant and information system expert, was arrested alongside a
Nigerian pastor, Edward Oluwasanmi in early 2024 for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently obtain $4.2m in COVID-19 relief funds.
The monarch who was appointed as Apetu of Ipetumodu was arraigned alongside the clergyman on 13 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property.