A 97,000 page evidence has been
submitted by the United States against
suspended aide to Ogun Governor
Abidemi Rufai.
Recall that he was indicted for alleged
conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated
identity theft.
The Nation reports Rufai was arrested
at the JFK airport in New York on May
14 over alleged $350,000 COVID-19
unemployment fraud in the United
States.
The prosecutor submitted 97,000-page
materials at the U.S. District for the
Western District of Washington at
Tacoma, on July 26.
The indictment alleges that Rufai used
the stolen identities of more than 100
Washington residents to file
fraudulent claims with the
Employment Security Department
(ESD) for pandemic-related
unemployment benefits.
Acting US Attorney Tessa M. Gorman
had said Rufai filed fraudulent
unemployment claims with Hawaii,
Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana,
New York, and Pennsylvania, using
variations of a single email address in
a manner intended to evade
automatic detection by fraud systems.
The agreed application filed on August
3, 2021, apparently based its
assessment of the complexity of the
case on the volume and nature of the
evidence filed by the prosecution.
“On July 26, 2021, the government
produced approximately 97,000 pages
of material.
“In addition, the government is in the
process of executing two additional
electronic search warrants.
“The discovery includes electronic
documents in a variety of formats,”
the document stated in part.
It added much of the material
“contains personal identifying
information or sensitive financial
information.”
Rufai was arraigned before the court
on June 25, 2021 where he pleaded
not guilty to all counts.
The court then scheduled trial for
August 31, 2021 and set a pretrial
motions deadline of July 23, 2021.