Lagos Big boy and Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Bidemi Rufai, has been arrested in the United States over theft of over $350,000 unemployment benefits from the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 42-year-old allegedly submitted dozens of unemployment claims using stolen identities between March and October 2020 to steal the fund.
Rufai was nabbed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York while trying to escape to Nigeria and has been charged with wiring over $350,000 in unemployment benefits in the U.S.
Rufai had used a single Gmail account to file 102 claims for ESD benefits and also used it to file for benefits in 10 other states.
He had allegedly bypassed security systems at ESD using a simple feature of Gmail which allows users to create many additional email addresses simply by adding one or more periods to the original email address.
However, he was busted following a federal judge warrant to Gmail, allowing investigators to search his e-mail account.
Rufai May be facing up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.