The embattled Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has pleaded with a United States court to temper justice with mercy after admitting guilt in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud case.
In a sentencing memorandum filed before Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday, August 19, the monarch’s lawyers argued that the coronavirus pandemic pushed him into committing the crime despite his previously untainted record.
“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.
COVID-19 is not an excuse, but it is a factor,” his counsel stated in the document exclusively obtained by Peoples Gazette.
The 62-year-old monarch, who once worked as a U.S.-based banker and adjunct professor, was arrested by the FBI in May 2024 after disappearing from Nigeria two months earlier.
His absence from major festivals in Ipetumodu, including Odun Egungun and Odun Edi, had fuelled speculation in his hometown before he was eventually picked up in Cleveland.
Investigations revealed that Oba Oloyede allegedly used six companies to file fraudulent loan applications under the U.S. Paycheck Protection Programme and Economic Injury Disaster Loan scheme, laundering part of the proceeds through personal and business accounts.
American authorities also seized a Medina County property and about $96,000 from one of his company’s bank accounts.
Although his lawyers admitted his guilt, they maintained that the fraud was a sharp departure from his history of service, stressing that he had shown deep remorse.
The monarch, a father of six and foster parent to several other children, was installed as the Apetu of Ipetumodu in July 2019 after returning from the United States where he had lived since the late 1990s.
He was granted bail after surrendering his Nigerian and American passports but has remained under restrictions.
His sentencing, earlier scheduled for July, was postponed to August 26 to allow the court review of his sealed medical records.
Meanwhile, his prolonged absence has left Ipetumodu without an active traditional ruler, raising concerns over succession and the vacuum created by his trial.
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