Abidemi Rufai
By Victory Oghene
Abidemi Rufai the notorious Internet fraudster and a former senior specisl assistant on Housing to Prince Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun State, has been released from the United Ststes prison.
The 47 years old ex convict was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ custody in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on November 15, 2024,
Correctional documents from the prison confirmed the story.
Rufai would be deported to Nigeria as stipulated in his guilty plea. His Nigerian passport was returned to him on October 21, 2024, after he filed a motion to reduce his sentencing.
When he pleaded guilty to allegations of tax fraud and aggravated identity theft in 2022, Rufai waived his rights to challenge deportation after serving out his jail sentence.
He was sentenced to 60 months in prison on two counts of fraud in 2022 after prosecutors presented a strong case of multimillion-dollar fraud backed with 100,000 pages of evidence before a federal judge in Tacoma, Washington. The terms were scheduled to run concurrently.
Rufai, widely known as Elele Ruffy, was scheduled to be released on Valentine’s Day in 2025 but a judge approved his motion to be released earlier based on new sentencing guidelines, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons forwent the three months left of his sentence.
He was ordered to pay $607,000 in restitution to the U.S. government agencies across multiple states, and a Nigerian court ordered the seizure of his Lekki mansion in Lagos and bank accounts after the anti-graft office EFCC filed fraud charges against him.
Rufai was widely known as a notorious Internet fraud ringleader in Lagos and Ogun for many years before he extended his fraudulent operations to the U.S., where he got nabbed.
