U.S court submits 97,000 page evidence against Abidemi Rufai
The fraud trial of suspended aide to Ogun Governor Abidemi Rufai has been postponed from August 31 to February 1, 2022.
It would be recalled that the suspended Senior Special Adviser was arrested in JFK airport in New York on May 14 for an alleged $350,000 COVID-19 unemployment scam.
It was alleged that Rufai used the stolen identities of more than 100 Washington residents to file fraudulent claims with the Employment Security Department (ESD) for pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
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The prosecutor submitted 97,000-page materials at the U.S. District for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma, on July 26.
The new trial date is based on agreement between the prosecution and the defence, describing the case as “unusual and complex”.
Judge Benjamin Settle of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, at Tacoma said pretrial motions “shall be filed no later than December 9, 2021”, and fixed pretrial conference for January 24, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.