The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to help with the arrest of two Nigerian fugitives wanted over healthcare fraud in the United States.
Babatunde Shodiya and Yinka Jamiu were on 25 September indicted by a grand jury at the U.S. District Court of Minnesota over a scheme that saw healthcare providers lose $13 million between October 2020 and 2024.
“The U.S. officials have reached out to us and they said the suspects are hiding in the country. We have an obligation to honour the request of our U.S. counterparts as part of our longstanding collaboration to combat cross-border crimes”. an EFCC agent who spoke to Peoples Gazette under anonymity said.
According to U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, Shodiya and Jamiu allegedly used falsified websites and email addresses to manipulate payment transfers on Optum Pay, a popular payment system among Minnesota’s healthcare providers under the guise of being owned by Fairview Health.
Using these fictitious email addresses, the fraud team sent emails to Fairview Health staff, deceiving them into supplying login information.
They created a counterfeit website, fairviewhospitals.org, and pretended to be key hospital personnel, including the CEO, executive vice president, and a business analyst.
In addition to the wire fraud allegations, Shodiya is charged with aggravated identity theft for pretending to be Fairview executives.
Luger said, “As part of the scheme, Babatunde and Jamiu created a fake ‘spoofed’ internet domain designed to appear as though it was controlled by Fairview Health”.
“In total, Babatunde and Ahmed fraudulently directed more than $13m in payments intended for Fairview Health from Minnesota-based healthcare companies to accounts controlled by Babatunde, Ahmed, and their co-conspirators”.
In the event that they are arrested, they would be extradited to the U.S. and forfeit all assets linked to the profits of the crime to the American authorities.
