The United States government has submitted a 97,000-page material in court as part of evidence of alleged fraud against Abidemi Rufai, a suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
The voluminous material was produced at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma, on July 26, a court filing obtained by PREMIUM TIMES stated.
“Discovery in this case is voluminous and complex,” the prosecution and the defence said in the document they jointly filed to ask for the postponement of the August 31 trial date.
The agreed application filed on August 3, 2021, apparently based its assessment of the complexity of the case on the volume and nature of the evidence filed by the prosecution.
“On July 26, 2021, the government produced approximately 97,000 pages of material.
“In addition, the government is in the process of executing two additional electronic search warrants.
“The discovery includes electronic documents in a variety of formats,” the document stated in part.
It added that much of the material “contains personal identifying information or sensitive financial information.”
Considering the nature of the material, both parties agreed that a protective order is required to “restrict defendant’s review of the material to certain authorised places.”
“Further, much of the material may need to be redacted before it can be provided to the defendant,” the document added.
Charges
Mr Rufai is part of many Nigerians charged with cybercrime-related offences in the U.S.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how he was arrested in the Eastern District of New York while trying to jet out of the U.S. on May 24, 2021.
He is accused of using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
He is said to have bypassed security systems at the Washington ESD using a simple feature of Google’s free Gmail service.
On May 26, 2021, a grand jury approved an indictment charging the defendant who has remained in custody since his arrest with 15 offences.
The charges filed at U.S. District Court for the Western Washington at Tacoma, comprise conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
He was arraigned before the court on June 25, 2021 when he denied the charges by pleading not guilty to all counts.
The court then scheduled trial for August 31, 2021, and set a pretrial motions deadline of July 23, 2021.
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
'Still Standing On Tinubu’s Mandate' – Eniola Badmus Reaffirms
Regina Daniels Reacts To Husband’s Heartfelt Post To Celebrate 6th Anniversary
Federal Court Blocks VeryDarkMan’s Arrest In Gospel Singer, Mercy Chinwo Case
Fake Madman Allegedly Caught With Phones, ATM Cards, Original Motorcycle Doc And Charm In Ogun
Massive Explosion Rocks Chinese Gas Company in Abia Leaving Two Dead, Many Others Injured