MARYLAND (WBFF) — A man pled guilty to charges stemming from a cross-county unemployment insurance fraud scheme, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office of Maryland.
Akinpelumi Olawale Oyewusi, 60, who was residing in Hyattsville, Maryland, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
From September 2020 through March 2021, officials reported that Oyewusi and others conspired to defraud state workforce authorities, including the Maryland Department of Labor and the California Employment Development Department, to obtain fraudulent unemployment insurance funds, according to the guilty plea.
Oyewusi and his co-conspirators used real identities to obtain fraudulent unemployment insurance from Maryland and other states.
After obtaining access to these funds, Oyewusi transferred or withdrew them via electronic transfers or an ATM.
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Oyewusi and the co-conspirators victimized people through identity theft, the state workforce authorities by stealing these funds, and financial institutions by misdirecting the unemployment insurance fund transfers and transactions, authorities reported.
These claims included victims’ real Social Security numbers and names but falsified their unemployment status and prior work history to obtain unemployment insurance funds.
Oyewusi was directly connected to at least $415,874.63 of actual losses and personally obtained at least $25,000 from the scheme.
To obtain these funds, Oyewusi and his co-conspirator received them via bank-issued debit cards linked to a bank account, and the bank mailed the cards to several addresses in Maryland and elsewhere, officials said.
Oyewusi accessed funds from Unemployment Insurance claims and transferred his share to other members of the conspiracy.
Furthermore, Oyewusi received mail alerts from the U.S. Postal Service allowing him to track these claims and personally withdrew thousands of dollars from the debit cards in the names of victims, according to the release.
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Oyewusi typically withdrew the maximum amount allowed for each card and then used the same cards to make additional withdrawals at later dates.
During the scheme, the ATM security system captured 18 photos of Oyewusi as he withdrew a total of $18,000 using debit cards linked to six fraudulent claims.
Bank records show he withdrew approximately $69,000 from these same debit cards throughout the scheme, the press release stated.
Sentencing for Oyewusi is scheduled for Thursday, December 3 at 2:00 p.m.
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