A United States District Court has sentenced Edward Oluwasanmi, a Nigerian pastor, to 27 months in prison for his role in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. His co-defendant, Joseph Oloyede, a traditional ruler in Osun State, has forfeited property linked to the crime.
Oluwasanmi was convicted on multiple counts of a 13-count indictment and sentenced by Judge Christopher Boyko of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The court also ordered him to forfeit $1.3 million to the U.S. government, with his sentences set to run concurrently.
The pastor and Oloyede were arrested in April 2024 and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property. U.S. prosecutors revealed that between April 2020 and February 2022, they submitted fraudulent applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), using falsified documents for businesses they controlled.
Oluwasanmi reportedly misappropriated millions of dollars through companies such as Dayspring Transportation Limited and Dayspring Holding Incorporated. In February 2025, both defendants entered guilty pleas and submitted plea bargain agreements. While Oluwasanmi has now been sentenced, judgment in Oloyede’s case is still pending, though properties linked to him in the U.S. have already been seized as part of asset forfeiture proceedings.
