Nigerian man jailed in US over wire fraud scheme

A Nigerian national, Adepoju Salako, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States for his role in a wire‑fraud scheme connected to Alaska’s 2022 Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program.

Salako, 33, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received his sentence on Tuesday after investigators determined that he had defrauded the Alaska Department of Revenue by submitting fraudulent PFD applications.

The United States Department of Justice released a statement on Friday detailing the conviction.

Court documents show that the fraudulent activity occurred between January and February 2022.

According to investigators, Salako stole the personal identification information of legitimate Alaskan residents and used those details to file seven separate applications in an attempt to unlawfully obtain their PFD payments.

The report also noted that Salako had never lived in Alaska and had not visited the state until he traveled there for his sentencing.

“Salako obtained the personal identifying information for legitimate Alaskan residents and submitted seven separate applications to the Alaska DOR to obtain their PFD funds,” the statement read. “Salako was never an Alaskan resident and had never traveled to Alaska up until his arrival in the state for his sentencing in this matter.”

“Court documents detail that Salako created new email accounts that he controlled for each legitimate Alaska resident whose PII he fraudulently obtained,” the statement added.

Salako pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud.

The court also ruled that the 18‑month sentence would run concurrently with an earlier sentence imposed in a separate COVID‑19 relief fraud and international money‑laundering case handled in the District of Colorado.

In that case, he had previously been sentenced to six and a half years in prison and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution to victims affected by the crimes.