The 45-year-old who was arrested at the New York’s JFK airport on May 14, 2021, pleaded guilty at a District Court in Tacoma, AP News reports.
Rufai admitted to using stolen identities to receive more than $350,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits from Washington state.
He also admitted earlier frauds: Since 2017, he had obtained identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans, submitted $2 million in claims for disaster relief and other federal benefits, and received more than $600,000, prosecutors said.
He also submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states, among others.
Rufai faces up to 32 years in prison for wire fraud related to a presidentially declared disaster and aggravated identity theft. He also agreed to pay restitution to the agencies he defrauded, though his ability to do that remained unclear.
