A US Court has sentenced an Osun monarch, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Joseph Oloyede, to 56 months imprisonment for defrauding the United States government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
The trial judge, Christopher Boyko, jailed the Osun traditional ruler on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Justice Boyko directed that Oloyede will serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543 in restitution.
A statement released by the US attorney’s office in the northern district of Ohio, disclosed that the royal father would forfeit his residence at Medina and the sum of $96,006, which was earlier seized by investigators.
It will be recalled that in April 2024, Oloyede was arrested alongside Edward Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, over the COVID-19 fraud.
The duo were charged in court on 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property.
