U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Maryland Man Admits to Coordinating Covid-19, Unemployment, Insurance, and Aggravated Identity Theft Schemes (USAO D-MD 03/09/2022) (2022-03-10)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland, dated March 9, 2022, announcing that Idowu Raji, age 40, of Baltimore County, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the guilty plea as described, in 2020 Raji conspired to obtain more than $900,000 in unemployment insurance and other COVID-19 related benefits, and from October 2018 to November 2020 conspired to obtain more than $750,000 from businesses, individuals and financial institutions. The release states that Raji fraudulently applied for a $31,200 Paycheck Protection Program loan for Yours Truly LLC. Under the plea agreement Raji will be ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution; U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher scheduled sentencing for May 20, 2022.

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                                     Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                        District of Maryland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Wednesday, March 9, 2022



     Maryland Man Admits to Coordinating Covid-19,
  Unemployment, Insurance, and Aggravated Identity Theft
                       Schemes
      Defendant and Co-Conspirators Caused Losses Exceeding $1.5 Million
Baltimore, Maryland – Idowu Raji, age 40, of Baltimore County, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to
conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft in
relation to multiple financial schemes.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L.
Barron; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
Baltimore; Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Lewis of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic
Security Service (DSS), Washington Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Troy W. Springer, of
the Washington Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General; and, Postal
Inspector in Charge Greg L. Torbenseon of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division.

“Raji participated in the theft of American personal identifying information from more than 50
unsuspecting Americans and caused at least one million dollars in COVID-19 fraud for his financial
benefit” said U.S. Attorney Barron. “Our Office remains dedicated to bringing justice to anyone who
fraudulently obtains disaster relief funds to line their pockets and deprive American citizens in a
time of need.”

“The Diplomatic Security Service is pleased with this guilty plea. These hard-fought convictions send
a clear message that criminals who commit passport and visa fraud for illegal profit will be
punished,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Lewis of the DSS Washington Field Office.
“DSS, alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our other federal partners, is committed to rooting-
out and prosecuting criminal enterprises involving U.S. travel documents.”

According to his guilty plea, in 2020, Raji conspired with other individuals to defraud, use, and
traffic in unauthorized access devices and obtain more than $900,000 in unemployment insurance
and other COVID-19 related benefits. Moreover, from October 2018 to November 2020, Raji
conspired with multiple individuals charged in the District of Maryland to defraud multiple
businesses, individuals, and financial institutions to illegally obtain more than $750,000.

In furtherance of the access device conspiracy, Raji admitted arranging for the delivery of fraudulent
unemployment insurance cards to his co-conspirators, providing instructions on the use of the cards,
and obtaining a portion of the fraudulently obtained proceeds. In total, Raji admitted that he was
involved in fraudulent unemployment claims that used the identities of more than 50 real people and
caused more than $900,000 in losses to state and the federal governments.

Raji admitted using an encrypted text messaging application to carry out his crimes, including to
coordinate the use of unemployment insurance and COVID-19 related benefits, obtain and transfer
the personal identifying information of real individuals, and receive unemployment debit cards that
were mailed to addresses in Maryland and loaded with fraudulently obtained benefits. Raji also
directed the use of the fraudulently obtained debit cards to engage in point of sale and ATM
transactions. He also used the state and federal government funds intended for disaster relief for his
own benefit.

As part of his wire fraud conspiracy, Raji’s co-conspirators used fake identification documents to
open bank accounts, which Raji then coordinated the use of the accounts to receive fraud
proceeds. For example, in November 2019, a co-conspirator opened a bank account at a financial
institution using a fake passport with the alias “Chris Hobert.” In December 2019, the email account
of a supervisor at a victim business was hacked, and an email was sent to the victim business that
fraudulently claimed that another business had changed its payment instructions. As a result, the
victim business sent a $33,200 wire to a fraudulent account opened by one of Raji’s co-
conspirators. Raji worked with his co-conspirators to move the funds to another account registered
under the alias “Michael Stone,” and to eventually gain access to the fraud proceeds.

Further, in July 2020, Raji fraudulently applied for a $31,200 Paycheck Protection Program loan on
behalf of a business, Yours Truly LLC. Raji claimed that his business had more than $132,000 of
gross revenue in the prior year when, in fact, it did not. Moreover, Raji did not spend the proceeds of
the loan on employee salaries and other appropriate expenses required by the PPP loan.

As stated in his plea agreement, when Raji was arrested by federal agents in November 2020, he
made multiple false statements to agents, including that he had never been involved in business
email compromise schemes, wire fraud, or unemployment insurance fraud. Raji also falsely claimed
that he never used Yours Truly LLC when he had received federal loans through the entity less than
six months before the interview.

As part of his plea agreement, Raji will be ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

Raji faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy to commit access device fraud, a
maximum of ten years in prison for access device fraud, and a mandatory minimum of two years
consecutive to any other sentence imposed for the aggravated identity theft conviction. U.S. District
Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has scheduled sentencing for May 20, 2022 at 10 a.m.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to
marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government
to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to
investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists
agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods,
augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information
and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s
response to the pandemic, please visit www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by
calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-
5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-
complaint-form.

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force was established to
serve the American public by promoting transparency and facilitating coordinated oversight of the
federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC Fraud Task Force brings together
agents from its 22 member Inspectors General to investigate fraud involving a variety of programs,
including the Paycheck Protection Program. Task force agents who are detailed to the PRAC receive
expanded authority to investigate pandemic fraud as well as tools and training to support their
investigations.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the HSI, DSS, the U.S. Department of Labor-
OIG, and the U.S. Postal Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant
U.S. Attorney Harry M. Gruber, who is prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available
to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md.

                                                ###

Topic(s):
Financial Fraud
Identity Theft
Component(s):
USAO - Maryland
Contact:
Alexis Abbott (301) 344-4342
                                                                                  Updated March 9, 2022


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