Acting U.S. Attorney, Tessa Gorma, in a letter to the court on Sunday, said the “surety is a suspect in an investigation into an email impersonation scheme.”

Mr Rufai was arrested while trying to get out of the U.S. on May 14.

He was accused of allegedly using 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.

Last Tuesday, his lawyer, Michael Barrow, said Mr Rufai denied “involvement in these transactions.”

His first appearance in court was Wednesday and he was denied bail because his brother, Alaba Rufai, who is listed in court records, could not post the $300,000 surety bond for his bail.

However, a surety was presented on Friday with the court ruling that a New York state resident and family friend of Mr Rufai could post the bond.

The surety, Nekpen Soyemi, a registered nurse, whose family comes from Nigeria, told the court that she would guarantee the $300,000 bond and allow Mr Rufai to stay at her and her husband’s home.

The Magistrate Judge, Mr Reyes, delayed the release of Mr Rufai until May 25 to give enough time to federal prosecutors to appeal the order.

The Acting U.S. Attorney, Ms Gorma, said in her letter to the court that Ms Soyemi is a suspected fraudster and should not be allowed to stand surety for Mr Rufai.

“First, the FBI has conducted research into the Surety and has learned information indicating that the Surety is not an appropriate person to perform that role,” the letter partly read.

“In 2015, the Surety’s bank (Bank of America) issued a report naming the Surety as a suspect in an investigation into an email impersonation scheme.

“According to the bank’s report, a person purporting to be a donor deposited $134,000 into the bank account of a legitimate nonprofit. The “donor” (who was never identified) then contacted the non-profit and stated that some of the deposited funds were intended for a different recipient.

“The donor asked the non-profit to wire the excess funds to three different accounts, one of which was a Bank of America account in the Surety’s name. The report indicates that the Surety then made cash withdrawals of the proceeds at two different B of A locations. The Surety did not respond to inquiries from Bank of America.

“Second, FBI’s research was unable to confirm that the Surety owns the listed real property. Mortgage and deed records for the property indicate that it was last purchased by an individual with the initials L.S.G. on November 7, 2014.”

She further said that the FBI could not locate records showing that the Surety has an interest in the property.

“The Surety has also submitted records showing that she has $335 in Robinhood investment account and $1,838 in a checking account. Neither submission suggests the Surety is in a position to secure a $300,000 bond.”

The U.S. government earlier told the court that it is dangerous to release Mr Rufai on bail, claiming the suspect presents an extreme risk of flight and “if he does escape to Nigeria, extradition will be extraordinarily difficult or impossible because of his ties to the Nigerian government.”

Abidemi Rufai is a Nigerian politician who served as senior special adviser to Ogun state governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun. Local reports indicate that he has since been terminated by the governor after his arrest last week.

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Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced that Abidemi Rufai, aka Sandy Tang whose documents shows he lives in Lekki, Nigeria, made his initial appearance Saturday May 15, 2021 in New York. He is scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday.

“Since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020, we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “This is the first, but will not be the last, significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of ESD fraud.”

The criminal complaint alleges that Rufai used the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with ESD for pandemic-related unemployment benefits. Rufai also filed fraudulent unemployment claims with Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania. Rufai used variations of a single e-mail address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.

Rufai caused the fraud proceeds to be paid out to online payment accounts such as ‘Green Dot’ accounts, or wired to bank accounts controlled by “money mules.” Some of the proceeds were then mailed to the Jamaica, New York address of Rufai’s relative.

Law enforcement determined more than $288,000 was deposited into an American bank account controlled by Rufai between March and August 2020.

Rufai faces charges of Wire fraud that is punishable by up to thirty years in prison in the United State as his case relates to benefits paid in connection with a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency.

42-year-old Abidemi is a Nigerian politician who works as a senior special assistant to Ogun state governor.

He is not the only Nigerian to be connected with wire fraud in the United States in recent times.

Last year, Dubai police raided a ring of fraudsters led by popular socialite, Hushpuppie. They were arrested and extradited to the US where they are awaiting trials.

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