A United States court has received a new plea for leniency from the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, who admitted involvement in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud that rattled both Nigeria and the U.S.
In a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, before Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio, the monarch’s lawyers acknowledged his guilt but urged the court to consider the pandemic’s impact as a mitigating factor.
“COVID-19 affected all of us differently. Conduct we would never expect from ourselves or others sometimes manifested itself as we encountered a completely different society. COVID-19 is not an excuse. But it is a factor. Particularly when, as did Joseph, one had to worry that pre-existing health problems could now become fatal if the virus was contracted,” his legal team wrote in the filing obtained by Peoples Gazette.
Oba Oloyede, 62, was arrested by the FBI in May 2024 after disappearing from Nigeria two months earlier, missing key traditional festivals in Ipetumodu. U.S. authorities accused him of using six companies to submit fraudulent loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Programme and Economic Injury Disaster Loan schemes.
Court records showed the monarch, who emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1990s and earned a doctorate, had maintained an unblemished record as a banker and adjunct professor before returning to Nigeria to be installed as Apetu in July 2019. His lawyers called the fraud a sharp break from his life of service and responsibility, stressing that he has expressed deep remorse and accepted full responsibility.
Prosecutors alleged that part of the funds were laundered through personal and business accounts. Authorities seized a Medina County property in Ohio and more than $96,000 from one of his companies. He was granted bail after surrendering his U.S. and Nigerian passports but remains under strict restrictions as he awaits judgment.
The monarch, a father of six and foster parent to other children, will be sentenced on August 26, 2025, after the court postponed an earlier hearing to review his sealed medical records.
His absence has left Ipetumodu without an active monarch, sparking concerns about succession and the leadership vacuum caused by his legal troubles.
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