By Biodun Busari
A Nigerian man, Adepoju Salako, has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison for committing wire fraud through a 2022 Permanent Fund Dividend fraud scheme in the United States.
Salako, a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania devised a scheme to defraud the Alaska Department of Revenue PFD programme.
The 33-year-old was sentenced on Tuesday following the court documents revealing his fraudulent activities between January and February 2022.
This was disclosed in a press statement by the Department of Justice website on Friday.
“Salako obtained the personal identifying information for legitimate Alaskan residents and submitted seven separate applications to the Alaska DOR to obtain their PFD funds.
“Salako was never an Alaskan resident and had never traveled to Alaska up until his arrival in the state for his sentencing in this matter.
“Court documents detail that Salako created new email accounts that he controlled for each legitimate Alaska resident whose PII he fraudulently obtained,” the report said.
He pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud and his prison sentence will run concurrently to a related COVID relief fund and international money laundering case in the District of Colorado.
He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for the laundering case and ordered to pay $2.5m in restitution to the victims of his crimes.
