Nigeria-based IT worker indicted for unemployment fraud in America

Chukwuemeka Onyegbula, using the name “Phillip Carter,” was linked to at least 253 fraudulent filings for unemployment benefits, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in Seattle, United States.

Onyegbula has been detained in Nigeria, but prospects for his extradition to the US were unclear. He works for PanOcean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited, according to the Seattle US Attorney’s Office. Court documents did not list an attorney who might comment on his behalf.

Washington, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Nevada, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin paid out a total of nearly $290,000 on claims related to the case. Additionally, the federal Small Business Administration paid out $54,000 in COVID-19 economic disaster claims filed by Onyegbula and his co-conspirators, prosecutors said.

Washington state was severely victimized by fraudulent claims for pandemic-related benefits. It likely paid out more than $647 million in such fraudulent claims, though $370 million was recovered, according to state officials.

Onyegbula is the second Nigerian national charged with such fraud in US District Court for western Washington. Abidemi Rufai, 42, a suspended Nigerian government official, has been accused of filing $350,000 in fraudulent claims in Washington and other states, with $288,000 making it into a bank account he controlled. He also sought to bilk the Internal Revenue Service of nearly $1.6 million, according to federal prosecutors.

A hearing is set for Friday (today) to determine whether Rufai might be released on bail pending trial. In a court filing Wednesday, assistant US attorneys said a recorded conversation between Rufai and his brother revealed that Rufai did not really know a woman who had offered to act as his custodian should he be released.

The recorded conversation also suggested that Rufai had significantly more money than he led the court to believe, prosecutors said.

In a response filed Thursday, one of Rufai’s attorneys, Michael C. Barrows, called the government’s reading of the conversation “an absolute fabrication.”

The family friend who offered to act as custodian attended the christening of Rufai’s son five years ago, Barrows said. Rufai often visited her when he traveled to New York, and nothing in the conversation — which occurred in English, Rufai’s second language — could be understood to mean he didn’t know her, Barrows said.

Further, the comments Rufai made about money referenced the fact that he could raise funds for his bond from friends and supporters — not that he had hidden assets, Barrows said.

This article originally appeared in Nigeria Abroad