A United States court has sentenced Oba Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, to 56 months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fraud scheme.
Oloyede, who has been on the throne since November 2019, pleaded guilty in April 2025 to charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors said the monarch, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United States, exploited the U.S. government’s pandemic relief programs by filing 38 fraudulent applications through his businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Between April 2020 and February 2022, the monarch and his co-conspirator, Edward Oluwasanmi, secured over $4.2 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds meant to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American businesses. Oloyede allegedly kept 15–20 percent of the loan proceeds as kickbacks while diverting much of the money into personal assets, including real estate and a luxury vehicle.
The U.S. District Court in Ohio also ordered him to pay $4.4 million in restitution, forfeit his Medina, Ohio residence purchased with fraud proceeds, and surrender more than $96,000 in cash. He will serve an additional three years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
His accomplice, Oluwasanmi, had earlier been sentenced to 27 months in prison in July 2024 and ordered to repay over $1.2 million in restitution.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the IRS–Criminal Investigations, and the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, under the U.S. Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force.
Oba Oloyede’s conviction has sparked shockwaves in Osun State, where he holds the traditional title of 27th Apetu of Ipetumodu, a revered Yoruba stool.