Prosecutors want Abidemi Rufai detained as court papers obtained by Neusroom reveal surety’s husband was convicted for wire fraud in 2014
The United States Department of Justice has told a Magistrate Judge that the only way to ensure that Nigerian politician Abidemi Rufai is held accountable for his alleged crimes is to order him detained pending trial, new court papers obtained by Neusroom have revealed.
Other court papers exclusively obtained by Neusroom also revealed that Idris Soyemi, the husband of Nekpen Soyemi who stood surety for Rufai was convicted for wire fraud in 2014 after pleading guilty to the crime.
Rufai was arrested at the JFK Airport, New York on Friday, May 14, 2021, for allegedly defrauding the Washington State Employment Security Department of over $350,000 under the alias Sandy Tang.
Until his arrest, he was a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state. Rufai has now been suspended by the governor following reports of his alleged fraud.
At his first detention trial on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, Ramon Reyes, a Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, ordered his detention pending his trial because his brother who is an attorney in New York refused to serve as his third-party custodian.
He was, however, close to getting out of detention last Friday after Ramon Reyes, a Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, ordered his release to his 3rd-party custodian Nekpen Soyemi, a registered nurse in the U.S.
Prosecutors had raised objection to Soyemi’s competence to stand as a surety following alleged criminal activities linked to her by the Bank of America which led to the closure of her account with the bank.
Despite this claim, the judge ordered his release on a $300,000 bond co-signed by Soyemi and also imposed additional conditions of release, including that Rufai resides with Soyemi and her husband and be subject to location monitoring.
After Friday’s hearing, the Washington state prosecutors filed an appeal against the order for his release and he is now due to appear in court today for the hearing of the appeal.
In a court paper signed by Acting United States Attorney, Tessa Gorman and sent to Neusroom, prosecutors are asking the court to revoke the release order and order Rufai detained pending trial, or pending his transfer to Washington.
Prosecutors told the judge that the condition that Rufai be required to live with Soyemi and her husband, who both have criminal records, will not address the flight risk.
“Rufai could simply flee the country, continue his fraudulent activities, and repay the surety with the proceeds in short order if he chose to do so,” prosecutors argue. “The bond does not provide a meaningful deterrent to flight.”
They also argued that the location monitoring ordered by the judge will not guarantee Rufai’s appearance in court. “A defendant determined to flee can simply remove his location monitoring device and disappear, long before authorities know that he has done so.”
“It would be a gross miscarriage of justice if Rufai was able to escape accountability for these crimes by fleeing the country he defrauded,” the prosecutors said.
Who is Idris Soyemi?
Investigations by Neusroom revealed that Soyemi was one of the 20 Nigerians arrested in a multimillion, multi-state identity theft and credit card fraud ring across the U.S in 2013.
He was 25 when he was arrested and charged with theft by deception, wrongful impersonation, and conspiracy in 2013.
The indictment alleged that Soyemi purchased stolen Personally identifiable information (PII) of at least 36 people between January 31 and February 5, 2013. At a March 31, 2014 plea hearing, Soyemi pled guilty to the wire fraud count and admitted that he used stolen PII to commit credit card fraud and bank fraud, and, further, had expressed interest to an undercover agent in learning how to submit fraudulent claims for tax refunds.
He was convicted of wire fraud in the District of New Hampshire in July 2014.
Court papers from 2014 obtained by Neusroom from the U.S court electronic records, revealed that Soyemi pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to two years on probation.
“The defendant is hereby placed on probation for a term of 2 years. The defendant shall not commit another federal, state, or local crime. The defendant shall not illegally possess a controlled substance,” the judge said.
The court also ordered him to immediately pay a sum of $100 as payment of the total monetary penalties.
Washington state prosecutors are now banking on the criminal records of Idris and Nekpen Soyemi, which are similar to the charges against Rufai, to argue against his release.
“Given this long pattern of dishonesty, the Court can have no confidence that Rufai will be honest with Pretrial Services or comply with court orders,” prosecutors said.
It is left to be seen if the Magistrate judge will grant the request of the U.S state of Washington prosecutors or order the release of Rufai as he appears in court today.
