Three Nigerian nationals, Kamaldeen Karaole, Stephen Olamigoke, and Johnson Omodusonu, have been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for defrauding the United States government of $820,910 in Covid-19 unemployment benefits. They were found guilty of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, among other charges.
The convicts used stolen personally identifiable information to file false unemployment claims with various state workforce agencies. They then used the stolen debit cards to withdraw cash from ATMs across the U.S, completing 529 withdrawals in total.
Kamaldeen Karaole was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months imprisonment, plus 2 years supervised release. Stephen Olamigoke was sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment, plus 2 years supervised release, and Johnson Omodusonu was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, plus 2 years supervised release. Each defendant was also ordered to pay $520,910 in restitution. Olamigoke is expected to be deported to Nigeria upon completing his sentence.
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