A United States District Court has sentenced the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, to 56 months in prison over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud.
The sentence was delivered on Tuesday, August 26, by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
Oloyede, 62, a dual U.S.-Nigerian citizen who lives in Medina, Ohio, was also ordered to pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution, forfeit his Medina home purchased with fraud proceeds, and surrender $96,006.89 seized by investigators. He will serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Prosecutors said Oloyede led a conspiracy that exploited emergency loan programs created to assist pandemic-hit businesses.
“From about April 2020 to February 2022, Oloyede and his co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, conspired to submit fraudulent applications for loans made available through the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) under the CARES Act,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
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Investigators said the monarch, a tax preparer, operated five businesses and one nonprofit, while Oluwasanmi owned three entities. Using these, they filed falsified applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).
“Oloyede caused the SBA to approve 38 fraudulent applications, amounting to $4,213,378 in disbursed loans and advances,” prosecutors said.
Authorities added that Oloyede also filed fraudulent applications for some clients, taking 15–20% of their loans as kickbacks without reporting the income to the IRS. The funds were spent on personal items, including land purchases, home construction, and a luxury vehicle.
Oluwasanmi, 62, of Willoughby, Ohio, was sentenced in July to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.
The investigation was conducted by the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, the FBI Cleveland Division, and IRS-Criminal Investigations, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward D. Brydle and James L. Morford.