Ex-Nigerian official pleads guilty to pandemic relief fraud

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A former Nigerian government official arrested for his part in a massive fraud against Washington state’s pandemic relief efforts has pleaded guilty in federal court. Abidemi Rufai of Lekki, Nigeria, acknowledged in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday he used stolen identities to receive more than $350,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits from Washington. He also admitted that since 2017, he had obtained identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans, submitted $2 million in claims for disaster relief and other federal benefits, and received more than $600,000. Rufai was the special assistant to the governor of Nigeria’s Ogun state when he was arrested on his way to Nigeria in May 2021.