Abidemi Rufai was arrested with five debit cards, Cartier watch, three mobile phones – DoJ says in court papers obtained by Neusroom
The United States Department of Justice has provided more details about what was found on Abidemi Rufai when he was arrested. The DoJ provided the context as a way of convincing a judge the accused is a man of means who could easily fund his way out of America if granted bail.
The Nigerian politician had in his possession five debit cards, a luxury Cartier watch, three mobile phones and seven pieces of luggage at the time of his arrest at the JFK Airport in New York on Friday May 14, 2021.
The DoJ revealed this in court papers filed by prosecutors with the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington and sent to Neusroom on Tuesday ahead of Rufai’s detention hearing on Wednesday May 19.
A Magistrate Judge for Eastern District of New York, has now ordered that Rufai be detained until his trial because his brother refused to serve as his third-party custodian.
In the court papers, prosecutors also said Rufai, 42, lied about his assets which he claimed amounts to $16,000.
“Rufai made the dubious representation to Pretrial Services that his total assets consist of $6,000 in the United States and $10,000 in a Nigerian bank account,” said the prosecutors who believe items found on the Nigerian politician and realtor at the time of his arrest prove his claims wrong.
“At the time of his arrest, the defendant was preparing to board a first-class flight to Nigeria with five debit cards and two credit cards in his wallet, a luxury Cartier watch, seven pieces of luggage, and three smartphones on his person,” prosecutors added.
Although prosecutors did not reveal the cost of the luxury Cartier watch found on Rufai, the watch is believed to be worth more than a million naira.
A check by Neusroom revealed that the cheapest watch on the website of Cartier is the Tank Solo Watch (Large model, quartz movement, steel) which costs $2,610, that is N1,252,800 at N480 exchange rate.
It may look extravagant but the figure is insignificant when compared to $350,000 (N168,000,000) Rufai is accused of stealing from the government of the state of Washington using the identities of more than 100 U.S citizens under the alias Sandy Tang.
Court documents said Rufai also filed fraudulent unemployment claims in 10 states using variations of a single email address in a manner intended to evade automatic detection by fraud systems.
