A United States court has sentenced the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, to more than four years in prison for masterminding a massive COVID-19 loan fraud scheme. The Osun State monarch, who also holds U.S. citizenship, was convicted in Cleveland, Ohio, for swindling over $4.2 million meant to support struggling small businesses during the pandemic.
Oba Oloyede, 62, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and tax-related offenses. On August 26, 2025, U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko handed him a 56-month sentence, three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay back $4.4 million. He also lost his Medina, Ohio home and nearly $100,000 in seized proceeds linked to the scheme.
Court records revealed that between April 2020 and February 2022, Oloyede—who ran multiple businesses and a nonprofit—worked with his associate, 62-year-old Edward Oluwasanmi, to file dozens of fake applications for pandemic relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. These loans, created under the CARES Act, were designed to help small businesses survive the economic toll of COVID-19.
Investigators discovered that while Oloyede’s businesses received about $1.7 million in fraudulent funds, he also filed false applications for some of his tax clients, pocketing 15–20% of their loans as kickbacks. The ill-gotten money funded a luxury lifestyle—land purchases, a new home, and even a luxury vehicle. Altogether, he was responsible for 38 fraudulent applications, totaling more than $4.2 million.
His co-defendant, Oluwasanmi, was sentenced last year to 27 months in prison, a $15,000 fine, and over $1.2 million in restitution. He also forfeited a commercial property and more than $600,000 gained from the scheme.
The case, investigated by the FBI, IRS, and other agencies, underscores how far some individuals went to exploit the pandemic for personal gain. For Oloyede, the sentence marks a dramatic fall—from a respected Nigerian monarch to a convicted fraudster in the United States.
