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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A court in the United States has postponed the trial of Abidemi Rufai, the suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, who is facing charges of $350,000 fraud.
The trial was postponed till May 31, 2022, following a fresh evidence of fraud filed against him by the prosecution.
Mr Rufai has been in detention since his arrest in New York in May 2021.
The U.S government arraigned him on 15 counts of fraud and identity theft at the District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma, on June 25, 2021.
He is accused of using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
His lawyers, in January, sought the second rescheduling of his trial from February 1, 2022, to May, in order to have more time to review available evidence with his client, and for further negotiation with the U.S. government.
The judge, Benjamin Settle, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma, granted the defendant’s request on January 11, according to PREMIUM TIMES.
Settle postponed the trial until May 31, 2022, although the defence suggested May 17.
It was the second postponement of the case within months.
The judge had, earlier on August 3, 2021, issued an order shifting the trial originally slated for August 31, 2021, to February 1, 2022.
Both the prosecution and the defence jointly applied for the earlier postponement, anchoring their agreed request on “the voluminous and complex” nature of the evidence submitted by the government.
The judge had acceded to the request and postponed the trial till February 1, 2022.
But the five-month postponement granted in August 2021 appeared insufficient for the defence.
In a motion filed on January 3, 2022, Rufai’s lawyer, Lance M. Hester, asked for further postponement of the trial from February 1 to May 2022.
Hester said he needed more time to review over 100,000 pages of evidence filed by the U.S. government against his client.
“The discovery, in this case, is voluminous and complex. The government had produced over 100,000 pages of discovery material,” Hester stated.
He also indicated that the government had filed more materials broadening the case beyond the original employment benefit fraud allegations.
“Further, in addition to the transactions described in the indictment, which relate to alleged fraud involving unemployment benefits, the government has also produced material relating to allegedly fraudulent claims for tax refunds and disaster relief,” Hester added.
He called for the postponement of the trial to gain more time, not only “to review the discovery with the defendant” and to prepare pretrial motions, but to also “further negotiate a possible resolution of this matter.”
He said failure to grant the postponement “would unreasonably deny the defence the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence.”
Filed in support of the application was an agreement which Rufai, who has now been detained for nine months, signed with his lawyer to waive his right to speedy trial.
The U.S. government’s prosecuting counsel, Seth Wilkinson, did not object the application.
In his ruling, Settle agreed with the defence lawyer’s submission, saying, “Failure to grant a continuance under these circumstances would result in a miscarriage of justice.
“The ends of justice outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in having the matter brought to trial sooner.”
He then scheduled what he described as a “pretrial motions cutoff date” for April 8, and a pretrial conference for May 23 at 2pm.
The judge fixed 9am of May 31 for the commencement of trial.
Recall that Rufai was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York while trying to board a flight to Nigeria in May 2020.
He was said to have bypassed security systems at the Washington ESD using a simple feature of Google’s free Gmail service to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Rufai now faces 15 charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
The court had, on June 25, 2021, adjudged him to represent a flight risk, and ordered that he should be attending his trial from jail.