WA Unemployment Fraud: Man Arrested, Accused Of Stealing $350,000

SEATTLE — Federal investigators arrested a Nigerian citizen at New York's JFK Airport on Friday, alleging he siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from Washington's unemployment system during the coronavirus pandemic. It is the first major arrest linked to a massive international fraud operation.

The Department of Justice charged Abidemi Rufai, 42, with wire fraud, alleging he stole more than $350,000 from Washington using identities he stole from over 100 residents. Prosecutors said Rufai also filed fraudulent unemployment claims in Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, Massachusettes, New York and Pennsylvania.

Last month, the state auditor's office estimated an international fraud scheme stole more than $640 million from Washington in 2020, with total losses at the Employment Security Department potentially higher than $1 billion. The auditor found $370 million has been successfully recovered.

"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 Tessa Gorman, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. "This is the first, but will not be the last significant arrest in our ongoing investigation of ESD fraud."

Federal prosecutors said Rufai used many variations of one e-mail address to evade automatic fraud detection and had payments loaded onto online accounts or wired to banks. Investigators said some money was sent to a relative in Queens, and more than $288,000 deposited into an American bank account linked to Rufai.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, federal wire fraud convictions can carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison when the crime is committed during an emergency or disaster declared by the President.