A United States District Court has delivered a damning verdict against the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, sentencing the monarch to 56 months in prison over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud.
The judgment, handed down on Tuesday by Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, has sent shockwaves through Nigeria and beyond, as the monarch—once a respected custodian of culture—was unmasked as a mastermind of an elaborate financial crime.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Oloyede pleaded guilty to six counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property, and making false tax returns. He was also ordered to pay $4,408,543.38 in restitution and forfeit several assets, including his home in Medina, Ohio, and over $96,000 in illicit funds seized during the investigation.
Oloyede, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United States, had styled himself as both a traditional ruler in Osun and a tax preparer in Ohio. Court records reveal he leveraged this dual identity to exploit U.S. federal programs designed to cushion small businesses from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between April 2020 and February 2022, Oloyede partnered with 62-year-old Edward Oluwasanmi of Willoughby, Ohio, to submit fraudulent applications for relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) scheme. These programs, enacted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, were meant to rescue struggling small businesses.
Instead, Oloyede and his accomplice manipulated the system with falsified records, fabricated payrolls, and ghost businesses. Investigations revealed that the monarch, who operated five businesses and a nonprofit organization, filed numerous fraudulent applications. He even exploited unsuspecting tax clients by applying for loans in their names and taking kickbacks of 15–20% from the disbursed funds.
The scheme funneled approximately $1.7 million into Oloyede’s entities and $1.2 million into Oluwasanmi’s businesses. In total, 38 fraudulent loan applications were traced to the monarch, accounting for over $4.2 million in SBA disbursements.
Lavish Lifestyle Built on Fraud
Prosecutors told the court that the monarch diverted part of the proceeds to finance a lavish lifestyle, including the acquisition of land, construction of a private residence, and the purchase of a luxury vehicle—all while small businesses across the U.S. struggled to survive the pandemic.
His co-conspirator, Oluwasanmi, was earlier sentenced in July 2024 to 27 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a $15,000 fine, and restitution of $1.2 million. He also forfeited properties and more than $600,000 stashed in his accounts.
The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation–Office of the Inspector General, the FBI (Cleveland Division), and IRS Criminal Investigations, under the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward D. Brydle and James L. Morford successfully prosecuted the case, stressing that the monarch’s betrayal of public trust highlights the global dimensions of pandemic-related fraud and the determination of U.S. authorities to hold perpetrators accountable—no matter their titles or influence.
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