Nigerian Man Sentenced to 54 Months in US for $25M Pandemic Aid Fraud

Fatiu Ismaila Lawal, a 46-year-old Nigerian man residing in Canada, has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in the U.S. Lawal was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.

U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman of the Office for the Western District of Washington confirmed the sentencing in a press statement, noting that Lawal had been extradited from Canada in July 2024. He pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2024.

Lawal was involved in a scheme that defrauded pandemic aid programs of millions of dollars.

“At today’s sentencing hearing U.S,. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said, the crime required substantial planning.

“This took advantage of programs designed to help people who were really struggling in an international emergency,” Judge Cartwright said.

“This defendant made it his full-time job to defraud the U.S. for years before the pandemic, but he kicked it into high gear once critical aid to American workers was flowing,” said U.S. Attorney Gorman.

“His fraud included using stolen identities of Washington residents to file dozens of unemployment claims in the first few weeks of the pandemic, contributing to the flood of fraudulent claims that caused the state to pause all unemployment payments. In this way, his fraud harmed all Washingtonians who desperately needed assistance at the onset of the pandemic.”

Fatiu Ismaila Lawal, along with his codefendant Sakiru Olanrewaju Ambali, 46, used stolen identities of thousands of workers to submit over 1,700 claims for pandemic unemployment benefits across more than 25 states, including Washington.

These fraudulent claims sought approximately $25 million, but the conspirators managed to secure around $2.7 million, mainly from pandemic unemployment benefits. Lawal admitted to personally submitting claims totaling $1,345,472.

Lawal submitted at least 790 claims for unemployment benefits using the stolen identities of 790 individuals, with submissions spanning across states such as New York, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Washington, as well as 19 other states.

He also set up four internet domain names, which were used to create 800 different email addresses for the scheme.

Between 2018 and November 2022, Lawal further submitted 3,000 fraudulent income tax returns seeking $7.5 million in refunds. Although the IRS detected the fraud, it only paid out $30,000.

“While Mr. Lawal may not have secured the $7.5 million he sought from fraudulent tax refunds, each of the 3,000 returns he filed represents a life he disrupted,” said Adam Jobes, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office.

Lawal and his co-defendant Ambali also attempted to defraud the Small Business Administration (SBA) by using the stolen American identities to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

They submitted approximately 38 applications, but the SBA detected most of the fraud and only disbursed $2,500 in funds.

To further their scheme, Lawal and Ambali directed the fraudulent proceeds to be sent to cash cards or through “money mules,” who transferred the funds according to their instructions. They also allegedly used the stolen identities to open bank accounts, into which the funds were directly deposited for their personal use.

Evidence presented in the case revealed that Lawal personally received a significant portion of the proceeds from the criminal activity. As a result, Lawal was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,345,472.

Co-defendant Ambali had already been sentenced to 42 months in prison in March 2024 for his role in the fraud.

In asking for a 65-month prison sentence, the government argued, “During major disasters and nationwide emergencies, the government needs to be able to disburse aid quickly to real victims to mitigate the impact of the crisis. The actual monetary loss to the government comes secondary to the fact that a real person or business behind each stolen identity had difficulty accessing assistance because a fraudulent claim was already paid in their identity. These difficulties were further compounded by the onslaught of fraudulent claims that clogged the infrastructure in place to distribute the aid. The estimated loss from these fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims is over $100 billion.”

The National Unemployment Fraud Task Force provided a crucial lead that allowed the investigative team in Western Washington to pursue this case. The investigation was carried out by the FBI, with support from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG).

Additional assistance came from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD), and the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cindy Chang of the Western District of Washington. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs played a key role in facilitating the extradition of Lawal for prosecution in the U.S.