A Nigerian national has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a sophisticated scheme that defrauded U.S. pandemic unemployment programs of at least $10 million, federal prosecutors announced.
Yomi Jones Olayeye, also known as “Sabbie,” 40, of Lagos, Nigeria, entered his plea to one count each of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Senior United States District Judge Mark L. Wolf scheduled sentencing for August 13, 2025. Olayeye, who was arrested in August 2024 upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, remains in federal custody.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Olayeye and his co-conspirators targeted three major pandemic assistance programs between March and July 2020: traditional unemployment insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), all administered by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and similar agencies in other states.
“Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly used personally identifiable information (PII) they purchased over criminal internet forums to apply for UI, PUA, and FPUC-falsely representing themselves to be eligible state residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.
The statement detailed that the group used the stolen PII to open U.S. bank and prepaid debit card accounts to receive the fraudulent assistance payments. They also recruited U.S.-based account holders to receive and transfer the proceeds via cash transfer applications. The illicit funds were then converted to Bitcoin through online marketplaces.
To further mask their activities, Olayeye and his associates “concealed the conspiracy’s connection to Nigeria by leasing Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers located in the United States for use in the fraudulent transactions”.
The conspiracy affected unemployment insurance agencies in at least nine states: Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio, and Washington. In total, Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent benefits and received more than $1.5 million in payments to which they were not entitled.
Olayeye faces significant penalties. The charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, forfeiture, and restitution. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.
