Indictment as to Abidemi Rufai (1) counts 1, 2-10, 11-15 — United States v. Rufai (Dkt. 10, W.D. Wash. No. 3:21-cr-05186)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington · No. 3:21-cr-05186-BHS · Doc. 10 · 2021-05-26 · Docket on CourtListener

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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document 10

Filed 05/26/21 Page 1of 10

Presented to the Court by the foreman of the
Grand Jury in open Court, in the presence
of the Grand Jury and FILED in the USS.
DISTRICT COURT at Seattle, Washington
May 26, 2021

WILLIAM M. McCOOL, Clerk
By WV Deputy

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

AT TACOMA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NO. CR21-5186 BHS
Plaintift, INDICTMENT
v.
ABIDEMI RUFAI
a/k/a Sandy Tang,
Defendant.

The Grand Jury charges that:
COUNT 1

A. Background

(Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud)

1. These charges involve the participation of ABIDEMI RUFAI, a/k/a/ Sand.

Tang, in a conspiracy to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits intended for

American workers suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RUFAI, a Nigerian national, submitted over 100 claims to the Washington Employment

Security Department, and submitted additional claims to the state workforce agencies for

other states, using the stolen identities of American workers. In so doing, RUFAI caused,

and attempted to cause, the Employment Security Department to pay out federal and

United States v. Rufai
Indictment - 1

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_- Filed 05/26/21 Page 2of 10

other unemployment benefits in excess of $350,000, and fraudulently caused other states
to pay out additional benefit payments.

2. On March 27, 2020, the United States enacted into law the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act authorized
approximately $2 trillion in aid to American workers, families, and businesses to mitigate
the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act funded, and
authorized each state to administer, new unemployment benefits. These benefits include:
(1) Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provided a benefit
of $600 per week per unemployed worker in addition to existing benefits; (2) Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which extends benefits to self-employed persons,
independent contractors, and others; and (3) Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
Assistance (PEUC), which extends benefits for an additional 13 weeks after regular
unemployment benefits are exhausted.

3. CARES Act unemployment benefits are funded by the United States
government through the Department of Labor, and administered at the state level by state
agencies known as state workforce agencies (SWAs). The Washington Employment
Security Department (ESD) is the SWA for the State of Washington. CARES Act
unemployment benefits are authorized, transferred, disbursed and paid in connection with
a nationwide emergency declared by Presidential Proclamation 9994 (effective as of
March 1, 2020) and a Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of
Washington concerning the COVID-19 pandemic that was issued on March 22, 2020.

4, Applicants can apply online for ESD-administered benefits by visiting
ESD’s Unemployment Tax and Benefit (UTAB) system. To access UTAB, the applicant
must first set up an account with Washington’s Secure Access Washington (SAW) web
identity validation system. The UTAB and SAW websites are both hosted at the State
Data Center in Olympia, Washington.

United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
: 700 STEWART STREET
Indictment - 2 SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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ON Dn Nn FP WN KF DO WON DB Nn FBP W VPO YF COC

Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page 3of 10

5. To establish a SAW account, an applicant must provide the SAW system
with an email address. The SAW system then sends an activation link to the designated
email account by wire transmission originating in Olympia, Washington. The user must
click on the link to activate his or her SAW account. When the user clicks the link, his or
her computer sends a wire transmission terminating in Olympia, Washington that
activates the SAW account.

6. After activating the SAW account, the user may use the SAW account to
visit ESD’s UTAB application system. To file a claim through UTAB, the applicant
enters his or her personal identifying information (PII), to include name, date of birth,
and Social Security number. If ESD confirms the information matches the PII of a
person in ESD’s records, ESD will pay out benefits via wire (ACH) transfer to a bank or
financial account identified by the applicant.

B. The Conspiracy
7. Beginning no later than on or about April 27, 2020, and continuing through

at least on or about June 2, 2020, at Olympia, within the Western District of Washington,
and elsewhere, ABIDEMI RUFAI, a/k/a Sandy Tang, together with others known and
unknown to the Grand Jury, did conspire, confederate and agree, together and with each
other, to commit the offense of wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Section 1343. That is, ABIDEMI RUFAI, together with others known and unknown,
with intent to defraud, knowingly devised a scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain
money and property, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses,
representations, and promises. To execute and attempt to execute the scheme and artifice
to defraud, ABIDEMI RUFAI, together with others known and unknown, knowingly
transmitted, and caused to be transmitted by wire communication in interstate and foreign

commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds.

United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
: ' 700 STEWART STREET
Indictment - 3 SUITE 5220

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page 4of10

8. The object of the conspiracy was to fraudulently obtain federal and state-
funded, pandemic-related, unemployment payments from ESD and other SWAs by
submitting fraudulent claims using the stolen PIT of American workers.

C. Manner and Means

The following conduct was part of the conspiracy:

9. RUFAI and his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained, possessed and shared
with one another the PII of residents of Washington and other states, including their
names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.

10. RUFAI and his co-conspirators created email accounts, including an
account administered by Google Inc., (“Google”) with the address
“sandytangy58@gmail.com,” for the purpose of participating in fraudulent transactions
while obscuring their identities.

11. RUFAI and his co-conspirators, using foreign and interstate wire
transmissions, accessed ESD’s SAW portal, as well as similar portals of other SWAs,
including SWAs for the states of Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Each time RUFAI or a co-
conspirator accessed the Washington SAW portal, he or she caused wire transmissions
terminating and originating at the State Data Center in Olympia, Washington.

12. Toestablish SAW accounts, RUFAI and his co-conspirators provided the
sandytangy58@gmail.com email address to ESD as the designated email address to
receive activation emails. Each time RUFAI or a co-conspirator input this email address
into the SAW system, an activation email was sent to the sandytangyS58@gmail.com
email account. Each of these emails was sent via an interstate wire transmission
originating from the State Data Center in Olympia, Washington and passing through a
Google data center outside the state of Washington.

13. Toprevent ESD and other SWAs from recognizing that the same email

account was being used to file multiple claims, RUFAI and his co-conspirators used

United States v. Rufai “UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
‘ : 700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970

Indictment - 4
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page5of10

dozens of variants of the email address by placing periods at different locations within the
email address for each claim. For example, RUFAI opened SAW accounts and submitted

29 66

claims using the variants “san.dyta ngy58@gmail.com,” “sa.ndyt.angy58@gmail.com,”
and “san.d.y.t.an.gyS8@gmail.com.” In routing emails to a Gmail account, Google
disregards periods within the email address (e.g., “john.doe@gmail.com” is routed to the
same account as “johndoe@gmail.com”). As a result, Google delivered all of these
emails (and any similar “dot variants” of the same address) to the
sandytangy58@gmail.com account. By using these email address variants, RUFAI and
his co-conspirators were able to file multiple claims using the same email account,
without ESD and other SWAs detecting that they were doing so.

14. When completing the applications, RUFAI and his co-conspirators directed
that some of the benefits be paid to online payment accounts, including accounts
administered by the Green Dot Corporation. In other cases, RUFAI and his co-
conspirators directed that the fraudulent benefit payments be made to bank accounts
controlled by persons known as “money mules,” who withdrew and transferred the funds
according to instructions given by RUFAI and his co-conspirators. RUFAI and his co-
conspirators directed the money mules to send a portion of the proceeds to the residence
of RUFAI’s brother in Jamaica, New York, where RUFAI was then staying.

15. The wire fraud that was the object of this conspiracy occurred in relation to,
and involved, benefit payments authorized, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, and paid
in connection with the presidentially-declared major disaster and emergency described in
Paragraph 3 of this Indictment.

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.

//
//
United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
. 700 STEWART STREET
Indictment - 5 Suite 5290

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page6of10

COUNTS 2-10
(Wire Fraud)

16. The Grand Jury incorporates by reference Paragraphs 1-15 of this
Indictment as if fully set forth herein.

17. Beginning at a time unknown, but no later than on or about April 27, 2020,
and continuing through at least on or about June 2, 2020, at Olympia, within the Western
District of Washington, and elsewhere, ABIDEMI RUFAI, a/k/a Sandy Tang, and others
known and unknown, with intent to defraud, knowingly devised a scheme and artifice to
defraud, and to obtain money and property, by means of materially false and fraudulent
pretenses, representations, and promises, as further described below.

18. The essence of the scheme and artifice to defraud was to fraudulently
obtain federally-funded CARES Act and other unemployment benefits from the
Washington Employment Security Department and other state workforce agencies by
submitting fraudulent claims using the stolen personal identifying information of
American workers.

19. Onor about the dates set forth below, at Olympia, within the Western
District of Washington, and elsewhere, for the purpose of executing and attempting to
execute this scheme and artifice to defraud, ABIDEMI RUFAI, and others known and
unknown to the Grand Jury, aiding and abetting each other, did knowingly transmit and
cause to be transmitted, by wire communication in interstate and foreign commerce,
writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds, each transmission of which constitutes a
separate count of this Indictment. Each of the following offenses was committed in
furtherance of, and was a foreseeable part of, the conspiracy charged in Count 1 of this

Indictment.

United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970

Indictment - 6
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page 7 of 10

Count

Date

Wire Transmission

April 27, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to san.dy.t.a.n.g.y.5.8@gmail.com
via a Google server outside of Washington

April 28, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to sandyt.a.n.g.y.5.8@gmail.com via
a Google server outside of Washington

April 29, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to sa.n.dy.t.an.g.y.5.8@gmail.com
via a Google server outside of Washington

May 1, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to s.andyt.an.g.y.5.8@gmail.com via
a Google server outside of Washington

May 2, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to s.a.nd.ytangyS8@gmail.com via a
Google server outside of Washington

May 7, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to san.dy.tangyS8@gmail.com via a
Google server outside of Washington

May 8 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to s.a.n.d_.y.t.an.gyS8@gmail.com via
a Google server outside of Washington

May 8, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to s.an.d.y.t.an.gyS8@gmail.com via
a Google server outside of Washington

10

May 9, 2020

Account activation email from the State Data Center in
Olympia, Washington to s.an.dy.ta.n.gy58@gmail.com via
a Google server outside of Washington

The Grand Jury further alleges that each of these violations occurred in relation to,

and involved, benefit payments authorized, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, and paid

in connection with a presidentially-declared major disaster and emergency.
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 and Title 18, United
States Code, Section 2.

United States v. Rufai
Indictment - 7

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page 8of10

COUNTS 11-15
(Aggravated Identity Theft)

20. The Grand Jury incorporates by reference Paragraphs 1-19 of this
Indictment as if fully set forth herein.

21. On or about the dates set forth below, at Olympia, within the Western
District of Washington, and elsewhere, ABIDEMI RUFAI, a/k/a Sandy Tang, knowingly
transferred, possessed, and used, without lawful authority, means of identification of
other persons, and did aid and abet the same, in that ABIDEMI RUFAI submitted claims
to the Washington Employment Security Department using the names, dates of birth, and
Social Security numbers, of the persons with the initials listed below, during and in
relation to felonies listed in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(c), to wit,
conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section
1349, and wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343. Each of

the following offenses was committed in furtherance of, and was a foreseeable part of,

the conspiracy charged in Count 1 of this Indictment.

Count Date Initials of Victim
11 May 2, 2020 S.C.
12 May 9, 2020 L.B.
13 May 10, 2020 SS.
14 May 13, 2020 M.S
15 May 17, 2020 NJ.

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1) and Title 18,
United States Code, Section 2.

//

//
United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
Indictment - 8 700 STEWART STREET

SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
Co OA ND WH FP WY YN Fe

NO wo NO HO HO NH ND HN HN RRR Ree Ree ee
oN DN FP WN YF DO ODN DWN BPW NY fF CO

Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document10_ Filed 05/26/21 Page9of10

FORFEITURE ALLEGATION

The allegations contained in Counts 1—10 of this Indictment are hereby realleged

and incorporated by reference for the purpose of alleging forfeiture. Upon conviction of
any of the offenses alleged in Counts 1-10 of this Indictment, the defendant ABIDEMI
RUFAI, a/k/a Sandy Tang, shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to Title 18, United
States Code, Section 981(a)(1)(C), by way of Title 28, United States Code, Section
2461(c), any property that constitutes or is traceable to proceeds of the offense. This
property includes, but is not limited to, a sum of money reflecting the proceeds the
defendant obtained from the offense.
Substitute Assets. If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or

omission of the defendant:

a. cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence;

b. has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party;

c. has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court;

d. has been substantially diminished in value; or,

e. has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without

difficulty,

it is the intent of the United States to seek the forfeiture of any other property of the
//

//
United States v. Rufai UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
Indictment - 9 700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970
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Case 3:21-cr-05186-BHS Document 10

Filed 05/26/21 Page 10 of 10

defendant, up to the value of the above-described forfeitable property, pursuant to Title

21, United States Code, Section 853(p).

A TRUE BILL:

DATED: 5/96 [308

[Signature of Foreperson redacted pursuant
to the policy of the Judicial Conference of
the United States]

FOREPERSON

Sr,

TESSA M. GORMAN
Acting United States Attorney

(1 Cy
ANDREW C. FRIEDMAN
Assistant United States Attorney

SETH WILKINSON
Assistant United States Attorney

} GENDY CHANG

Assistant United States Attorney

NICHOLAS L, MCQUAID
Acting Assistant Attorney General

JANE J. LEE
Trial Attorney
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section

United States v. Rufai
Indictment - 10

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
700 STEWART STREET
SUITE 5220
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101
(206) 553-7970

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