US court jails Osun monarch over $4.2m fraud

A United States District Court has jailed an Osun monarch, Joseph Oloyede, the Apetu of Ipetumodu for defrauding the United States government of $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

The presiding judge, Christopher Boyko, sentenced Oloyede to 56 months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to the charges on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.

The judge ordered the Osun monarch to serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $4,408,543 in restitution.

A statement issued by the US attorney’s office in the northern district of Ohio said Oloyede will forfeit his residence at Medina and the sum of $96,006, which was earlier seized by investigators.

The monarch was arrested in April 2024 alongside a Nigerian pastor, Edward Oluwasanmi, over the COVID-19 fraud.

The Nigerian pastor was sentenced to 27 months in prison for the fraud in July 2025.

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.

According to the charge sheet, from April 2020 through February 28, 2022, Oloyede and Oluwasanmi submitted Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) applications containing false information for companies under their control.

The convicts were said to have submitted falsified tax and wage documents to support these applications.

The US government stated: “During the investigation, agents found that Oloyede operated as a tax preparer and owned five businesses and one nonprofit.

“His co-defendant—and tax client—Oluwasanmi, owned an additional three business entities; all were incorporated in Ohio.

“Both defendants used their businesses to submit loan applications using false information. They obtained approximately $1.2 million in SBA funds for Oluwasanmi’s entities and $1.7 million for Oloyede’s entities.”

The Osun monarch and the pastor pleaded guilty to some of the offences and submitted plea bargain agreements.