Abidemi Rufai faults U.S. government’s fresh fraud allegation
The suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Abidemi Rufai, who is facing $350,000 fraud charges in the United States, has denied authorities’ fresh allegation of his involvement in a fraudulent surety scheme.
The United States Department of Justice accused Mr Rufai of
“knowingly” participating “in a fraudulent surety scheme” therefore misleading
the court in his desperate bid to get a surety for the bail earlier granted him
by a magistrate’s court.
Acting U.S. Attorney, Tessa Gorma, in documents filed at a
United States Courthouse, in Tacoma, Washington, on June 23, alleged that Mr
Rufai misled the court by presenting before the court a surety he barely knew
as his friend.
The government said it got a transcript of a recorded call
between Mr Rufai and his brother, discussing the issue on May 25, four days
after a hearing on his detention.
Denial
Responding to the claims, Mr Rufai, through his lawyer,
Michael Barrows, said the government failed to establish the allegations
against his client.
Mr Barrows said “a review of the government’s most recent
memorandum, purporting to depict Mr Rufai’s informal and innocuous conversation
with his brother – where they each refer to the surety as ‘lady’ – as evidence
of a “fraudulent surety scheme” is both self-serving and unsupported by the
transcripts themselves.”
The lawyer argued that nothing in the transcript of the
conversation referred to by the U.S. authorities indicates that the defendant
was unfamiliar with his surety.
He described the government’s claim as a pure fiction
indicative of its desperation to keep Mr Rufai in detention at all cost.
“The government’s position that Mr. Rufai did not even know
his surety and did not know basic biographical information about her is an
absolute fabrication and cannot be found anywhere in the transcript of
conversation between Mr Rufai and his brother.
“This is pure fiction, and is a further indication that the
government will say anything, supportable or not, in an effort to keep Mr Rufai
incarcerated pending his trial so as to exert maximum pressure,” the lawyer
stated.
Mr Barrows added tthat the government’s “intentional
mischaracterisations of both Mr Rufai’s conversation with his brother, and the
nature of his relationship with the proffered surety, demonstrates the
underlying weakness of the government’s position vis-a-vis their request for
review of the Eastern District’s decision to grant Mr Rufai’s pre-trial
release.”
He added, “The government’s further claim that Mr Rufai’s
statement to his brother that ‘the money is available’ somehow indicates that
Mr Rufai ‘has significant assets which he is willing to use however he can to
secure his own release’ is equally unsupported by the record, yet offered as
fact.
“In actuality, Mr Rufai’s statement that money is available”
is indicative of the fact that he has the support of caring friends and family
that he can call upon should this Court require a bond,” Mr Barrows said in
court documents on June 24, in response to U.S. government surety scheme
allegations against Mr Rufai.”
Genesis
Mr Rufai was arrested at John F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York while heading to Nigeria on May 14.
He was said to have used the identities of more than 100
Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from
the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19
pandemic last year.
At the end of a detention hearing held on May 19, 2021, the
Magistrate of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Ramon
Reyes, agreed with the government that Mr Rufai posed “a serious flight risk”,
but found that the risk could be addressed by conditions of release, including
a $300,000 bond.
The magistrate went on to issue an order releasing Mr Rufai
based on the bond in which Mr Rufai’s brother, who is licensed as an attorney
in New York, was proposed as surety.
Knots
Mr Rufai was not released because his brother did not sign
the bail bond. The suspect was then remanded pending when he would provide an
alternate surety.
Following the refusal of Mr Rufai’s brother to stand as a
surety, the defendant’s lawyer, Michael Barrows, on May 21, presented Nekpen
Soyemi, a registered nurse, whose family comes from Nigeria.
The U.S. later exposed her as a “suspect in an investigation
into an email impersonation scheme.” Her husband, Idris Soyemi, is also said to
have been convicted for wire fraud in 2014.
Now, U.S. findings have further shown that Mr Rufai planted
the surety and they never knew each other before now. He has denied this.
The U.S. government on May 24 filed an emergency motion of
stay release order before the United States District Court for the Western
District of Washington at Tacoma. The court granted the government’s motion as
the U.S. uncovered more criminal activities involving the suspect.
A federal grand jury in late May ratified the charges
involving conspiracy, wire fraud and “aggravated identity theft” against Mr
Rufai.
He was subsequently arraigned on fraud charges before a
United States Courthouse, in Tacoma, Washington.
Comments
Post a Comment