US court jails Adepoju Salako for fraud

A Pennsylvania man, Adepoju Babatunde Salako, 33, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud through a 2022 Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) scheme in Alaska.

Salako, from Philadelphia, admitted to fraudulently obtaining the personal identifying information of legitimate Alaskan residents and submitting seven fake PFD applications to the Alaska Department of Revenue (DOR). He had never lived in Alaska prior to his sentencing.

Court documents show that Salako created email accounts under his control for each victim, gained access to their established myAlaska online accounts, and changed bank details so the PFD payments would be sent to accounts he controlled. He attempted to hide his identity by using a VPN to make six of the submissions appear as if they originated in Alaska, while the seventh was submitted from Philadelphia.

The fraudulent applications, if approved, would have allowed Salako to steal $22,988 from seven Alaskan residents. The DOR identified the applications as fraudulent and denied them. At the time, each legitimate PFD applicant received $3,284.

Salako pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud. His sentence will run concurrently with a related case in Colorado involving COVID relief fund fraud and international money laundering, where he was sentenced to 6½ years in prison and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman stated: “Mr. Salako spent considerable time planning and perpetrating his scheme to defraud the Alaska PFD. Thanks to the great work of the Alaska Department of Revenue and the FBI, he didn’t succeed; but even attempting to defraud the PFD will not be tolerated and could result in federal prison.”

FBI Anchorage Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel added: “Despite efforts to mask his identity, Salako was identified through strong program safeguards and diligent investigative work. This sentence reflects our commitment to safeguarding the integrity of government programs and holding fraudsters accountable.”

The Alaska DOR’s Criminal Investigations Unit said the case demonstrates that stealing an identity to exploit the PFD will not be tolerated.

The investigation was carried out jointly by the FBI Anchorage Field Office and the Alaska DOR’s Criminal Investigations Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Ainsley McNerney prosecuting the case.