The Apetu of Ipetumodu, Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has been sentenced to over four years in prison in the United States for his role in a $4.2 million (approximately N6.4 billion) COVID-19 relief fraud.
Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio handed down the sentence on Tuesday after the monarch pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Oloyede will also serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison term. In addition, he was ordered to pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution and forfeit his Medina home in Ohio, which was purchased with fraud proceeds, along with $96,006.89 seized by investigators.
Oloyede was arrested in April 2024 alongside Edward Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, for their involvement in a large-scale scheme to defraud the U.S. government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duo faced 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property.
Investigations revealed that between April 2020 and February 2022, the two submitted fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications for companies they controlled. They also filed falsified tax and wage documents to support these applications.
Authorities said Oloyede, who worked as a tax preparer, owned five businesses and a nonprofit, while Oluwasanmi operated three additional business entities. Together, they secured about $1.7 million in relief funds for Oloyede’s companies and $1.2 million for Oluwasanmi’s entities.
Both defendants entered plea bargains, admitting to their roles in the fraud. In July 2025, Oluwasanmi was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his part in the scheme.
This case highlights the crackdown by U.S. authorities on COVID-19 relief fraud, which saw billions of dollars siphoned through falsified applications during the pandemic.
