US Court Jails Nigerian, Adepoju Salako, Six Years for $5m COVID‑19 Relief Fraud
A United States District Court has sentenced Adepoju Babatunde Salako, a 34‑year‑old Nigerian resident in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to six and a half years in federal prison for his role in a $5 million COVID‑19 pandemic relief fraud.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, Salako received a 78‑month sentence after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. As part of his plea agreement, he also admitted to seven additional counts of wire fraud in the District of Alaska.
The court ordered him to pay $2.58 million in restitution to victims of the scheme.
Court documents revealed that Salako and his accomplices exploited emergency relief programmes in 2021, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) scheme, and unemployment programmes across 30 US states. Using stolen identities, they fraudulently obtained loans and benefits.
Salako’s role involved receiving funds from romance scam victims and government agencies, then laundering the proceeds to China and Nigeria for a 25% commission.
Reacting to the judgment, US Attorney for the District of Colorado, Peter McNeilly, condemned the fraud, stressing that Salako and his associates “exploited innocent people and stole millions of dollars from American taxpayers.”
Similarly, Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General, warned that the sentence serves as a clear deterrent to anyone seeking to abuse public trust.
