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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, New York Man Sentenced for Role in Fraud and Money Laundering Schemes (USAO D-MA 04/13/2022) (2022-04-14)

Summary

A Department of Justice press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated April 13, 2022, announcing that Damilola Adepoju, 29, of Queens, N.Y., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to four years in prison and ordered to pay $299,500 in restitution. The release states that Adepoju pleaded guilty on July 21, 2021 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. According to the release, between May 2020 and May 2021 Adepoju took part in a scheme to submit fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims in multiple states, including Massachusetts, using stolen personal information, and used a shoe retail business to launder funds. The investigation identified more than $600,000 in actual or attempted losses.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, New York Man Sentenced for Role in Fraud and Money Laundering Schemes (USAO D-MA 04/13/2022) (2022-04-14).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-new-york-man-sentenced-for-role-in-fraud-a-1a39af8908/, SHA-256 1a3547159dbe172bd55965b41fa1d8b50c8e2c67a42ac5812fa0c5b67dee986d.

Full text

                                     Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                      District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Wednesday, April 13, 2022



    New York Man Sentenced for Role in Fraud and Money
                  Laundering Schemes
BOSTON – A Nigerian national was sentenced yesterday in connection with his involvement in
multiple criminal schemes, including the submission of fraudulent pandemic-related assistance
claims using stolen personally identifiable information and money laundering.

Damilola Adepoju, 29, of Queens, N.Y., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to
four years in prison and ordered to pay $299,500 in restitution. Adepoju will be subject to
deportation upon completion of his sentence. On July 21, 2021, Adepoju pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to commit wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

In March 2020, in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which among other things, created a temporary
federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The
PUA program provided unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who were not eligible for
other types of unemployment benefits.

Between May 2020 and May 2021, Adepoju participated in a scheme to submit fraudulent PUA
claims in multiple states, including Massachusetts, using the stolen personal information of others.
Adepoju used fake identification cards and created financial accounts in the names of the victims in
order to receive PUA funds. Adepoju also used a shoe retail business he operated to launder funds,
funneling the money to other financial accounts inside and outside the United States. The
investigation has identified more than $600,000 in actual or attempted losses associated with the
scheme.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of
Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations made the announcement.
The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance provided valuable assistance with the
investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Markham of Rollins’ Securities, Financial &
Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.

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 https://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: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-
disaster-complaint-form.
Topic(s):
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Massachusetts
                                                                                Updated April 13, 2022

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www.oig.dol.gov
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