Nigerian in U.S. jailed 2½ years for $290,000 COVID-19 relief fraud

Temitope Bashua, a United States-based Nigerian, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in a scheme that defrauded the U.S. of $290,000.Y

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher handed down the sentence on Thursday, citing Bashua’s involvement in a “conspiracy and scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL),” according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr Bashua, 29, will also serve two years of supervised release, having entered a plea agreement admitting participation in other schemes, including cyber intrusion, romance fraud, and business email compromise fraud.

The DoJ said, “In October 2020, as part of the conspiracy, co-conspirators submitted two fraudulent EIDL applications to the SBA for fictitious businesses using the personally identifiable information of identity victims.

“As a result of the fraudulent EIDL applications, Bashua received more than $290,000 in the U.S.”

Court documents show that from May 2020 through September 2022, Bashua and others impersonated victims to obtain money through fraudulent UI claims in Maryland and California without the victims’ knowledge or consent.

The sentence comes amid a spate of Nigerians in the diaspora jailed for involvement in COVID-19 relief fraud. In August, Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, was sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison over his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme.