Osun Monarch Sentenced to Prison for COVID-19 Relief Fraud.
Oba Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison by the United States District Court for his role in defrauding a COVID-19 relief program of $4.2 million. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the verdict in a statement released on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko delivered the sentence on August 26, following Oloyede’s guilty plea in April to several charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property and filing false tax returns.
In addition to the prison term, Oloyede, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Nigeria residing in Medina, Ohio, was ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after his imprisonment. He also forfeited his home in Medina and additional fraud proceeds amounting to $96,006.89.
Court documents indicate that from April 2020 to February 2022, Oloyede and his co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, conspired to submit fraudulent applications for loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which were designed to provide support to small businesses impacted by the pandemic.
Authorities discovered that Oloyede, who worked as a tax preparer and owned multiple businesses, submitted loan applications filled with false information. Collectively, they fraudulently obtained approximately $1.2 million for Oluwasanmi’s entities and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s. Oloyede also submitted fraudulent applications in the names of his clients, profiting by collecting 15-20% of the loan amounts as fees, which he failed to report to the IRS.
Funds misappropriated from the scheme were used to purchase land, construct a home, and acquire a luxury vehicle. In total, Oloyede caused the SBA to approve 38 fraudulent applications, resulting in the disbursement of $4,213,378 in loans and advances.
Oloyede, a naturalized U.S. citizen, also holds the traditional title of monarch in Ipetumodu, Nigeria. In July 2024, Oluwasanmi received a 27-month prison sentence for his involvement in the conspiracy, along with a three-year supervised release and restitution of over $1.2 million.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General, as part of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Edward D. Brydle and James L. Morford for the Northern District of Ohio.
