Lagos-based fraudster Yomi Jones Olayeye faces up to 20 years in U.S. prison after pleading guilty to COVID-19 unemployment benefits fraud that netted him more than $1.5 million in illegal proceeds.

According to court documents, Mr Olayeye had travelled to the United States without any prior knowledge of the financial fraud and conspiracy indictment awaiting him on American soil.

He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from Nigeria in August 2024, when he was immediately arrested and taken into custody.

He was charged with defrauding three pandemic assistance programs administered by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and other states’ unemployment insurance agencies: traditional unemployment insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation between March and July 2020.

Authorities said that Mr Olayeye admitted that he and his alleged co-conspirators carried out their fraudulent activities by buying personally identifiable information of their victims from fellow criminals online, which the gang then used to apply for UI, PUA and FPUC benefits, claiming they are eligible state residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also confessed that the gang used those stolen information to open U.S. bank accounts and prepaid debit card accounts to receive the assistance payments, which were then rerouted to banks controlled by the scammers in Nigeria.

They also recruited U.S.-based account holders to receive and transfer the fraud proceeds via cash transfer applications, which Mr Olayeye and his accomplices then used the fraudulent proceeds to purchase Bitcoin through online marketplaces.

In total, Mr Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent UI, PUA and FPUC benefits from Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio and Washington but were only able to steal an estimated $1.5 million in assistance.

Meanwhile, Mr Olayeye is scheduled to be sentenced in August this year.

He faces 20 years’ imprisonment for wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy charges, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, forfeiture and restitution.