Oba Joseph Oloyede
By Leke Aberuagba
The Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has pleaded for leniency before a United States court after admitting his role in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud.
In a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, before Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, the monarch’s legal team argued that the unprecedented disruption of the coronavirus pandemic influenced his decision to commit the offence.
“COVID-19 affected all of us differently. Conduct that we would never expect from ourselves or others sometimes manifested itself as we encountered a completely different society,” his counsel said. They maintained that while the pandemic was not an excuse, it was a major factor, particularly for the 62-year-old royal, who battled health challenges during the outbreak.
Oba Oloyede, who migrated to the United States in the late 1990s, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in May 2024 after vanishing from Nigeria two months earlier. His absence raised concerns in Ipetumodu, Osun State, especially after he missed major cultural festivals, including Odun Egungun and Odun Edi.
Prosecutors accused him of orchestrating a scheme in which six companies under his control filed fraudulent applications for U.S. federal relief funds under the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) scheme.
Court documents revealed that portions of the illicit proceeds were laundered through personal and corporate accounts. Investigators seized a Medina County property in Ohio and confiscated over $96,000 from one of his company’s bank accounts.
Before returning to Nigeria in 2019 to ascend the throne of Ipetumodu, Oba Oloyede had built what many described as a respectable career in the United States as a banker and adjunct professor. His lawyers told the court that his involvement in the fraud was a stark deviation from his record of service, responsibility, and community leadership. They added that he had demonstrated remorse and taken full responsibility for his actions.
The monarch, a father of six and foster parent to several others, was granted bail after surrendering both his Nigerian and U.S. passports. He has remained under strict court supervision since then.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 26, 2025, with possible penalties ranging from a lengthy prison term to forfeiture of assets, depending on the judge’s ruling.
