Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - The second of two Nigerian men residing in Canada who defrauded pandemic aid programs of millions has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in the U.S.
Fatiu Ismaila Lawal, 46, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma,
Washington on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman of the Office for the Western District of
Washington, who announced this in a press statement on Tuesday said Lawal was
extradited from Canada last July, and pleaded guilty in September 2024.
"At today’s sentencing hearing U.S,. District Judge Tiffany M.
Cartwright said, the crime required substantial planning. “This took advantage
of programs designed to help people who were really struggling in an
international emergency,” Judge Cartwright said.
“This defendant made it his full-time job to defraud the U.S. for years
before the pandemic, but he kicked it into high gear once critical aid to
American workers was flowing,” said U.S. Attorney Gorman.
“His fraud included using stolen identities of Washington residents to
file dozens of unemployment claims in the first few weeks of the pandemic,
contributing to the flood of fraudulent claims that caused the state to pause
all unemployment payments. In this way, his fraud harmed all Washingtonians who
desperately needed assistance at the onset of the pandemic.”
According to records filed in the case, Lawal, and codefendant Sakiru
Olanrewaju Ambali, 46, used the stolen identities of thousands of workers to
submit over 1,700 claims for pandemic unemployment benefits to over 25
different states, including Washington State.
In total, the claims sought approximately $25 million, but the
conspirators obtained approximately $2.7 million, primarily from pandemic
unemployment benefits. Lawal admits that he personally submitted claims for
$1,345,472.
Lawal personally submitted at least 790 unemployment claims using the
stolen identities of 790 workers. He submitted claims for pandemic unemployment
benefits to New York, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, California, Washington and
some 19 other states. Lawal also established four internet domain names that
were subsequently used for fraud – creating some 800 different email addresses
that were used in this scheme.
Additionally, between 2018 and November 2022, Lawal used stolen
personal information to submit 3,000 income tax returns for $7.5 million in
refunds. The IRS detected the fraud and paid just $30,000.
“While Mr. Lawal may not have secured the $7.5 million, he sought
from fraudulent tax refunds, each of the 3,000 returns he filed represents a
life he disrupted,” said Adam Jobes, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal
Investigation’s Seattle Field Office.
Lawal and co-defendant Ambali also attempted to use the stolen American
identities for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to defraud the Small
Business Administration (SBA). The pair submitted some 38 applications, but SBA
caught most of the fraud and paid only $2,500.
Lawal and Ambali had the proceeds of their fraud sent to cash cards or
to “money mules” who transferred the funds according to instructions given by
the co-conspirators. They also allegedly used stolen identities to open bank
accounts and have the money deposited directly into those accounts for their
use.
Evidence gathered in the case shows that Lawal personally received a
substantial portion of the criminal proceeds. Lawal was ordered to pay
restitution of $1,345,472.
Co-defendant Ambali was sentenced to 42
months in prison in March 2024.
In asking for a 65-month prison sentence, the government argued,
“During major disasters and nationwide emergencies, the government
needs to
be able to disburse aid quickly to real victims to mitigate the impact of the crisis. The actual monetary loss to the government comes secondary to the fact that a real person or business behind each stolen identity had difficulty accessing assistance because a fraudulent claim was already paid in their identity. These difficulties
were further compounded by the onslaught of fraudulent claims that clogged the infrastructure in place
to distribute the aid. The estimated loss from these
fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims is over $100 billion.”
The National Unemployment Fraud Task Force provided a lead on this case
to the investigative team in Western Washington. The case was investigated by
the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the
Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG). Also contributing to
the investigation were the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation
(IRS-CI), Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD), and the Small
Business Administration (SBA).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cindy Chang
of the Western District of Washington. DOJ’s Office of International Affairs
assisted with extradition on this matter.
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