Adepoju Babatunde Salako, identified as the Philadelphia coordinator of the pro-Tinubu group “Relax Tinubu Is Fixing Nigeria (Promises to Progress),” has been sentenced to 18 months in a United States federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple wire fraud charges tied to an Alaska benefits scam.
The 33-year-old Philadelphia resident was convicted for orchestrating a scheme that targeted Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) programme through identity theft and fraudulent online applications.
According to court records released by U.S. authorities, Salako stole the personal information of legitimate Alaska residents and used the details to file fake applications for government dividend payments managed by the Alaska Department of Revenue.
Investigators said the fraud took place between January and February 2022, during which Salako allegedly submitted seven fraudulent applications in an attempt to divert state payments into bank accounts under his control.
Authorities noted that Salako had never lived in Alaska and had not visited the state until he later appeared there for sentencing.
Court documents further revealed that he created multiple fake email accounts linked to the identities of the victims and used them to gain unauthorised access to existing “myAlaska” online accounts — the official portal for PFD applications.
Prosecutors said he altered account settings to redirect official emails and notifications to addresses he controlled, while also changing banking information so approved payments would be transferred into accounts connected to him.
To avoid detection, investigators said Salako used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to disguise the origin of the applications and make them appear as though they were submitted from within Alaska.
However, authorities discovered that one of the applications originated from an IP address traced to Philadelphia. Further digital evidence obtained from Salako’s personal email account reportedly connected him directly to the operation.
The Alaska Department of Revenue eventually detected irregularities and blocked the applications before any payments were released. Officials said each qualified Alaska resident was entitled to receive $3,284 in 2022, meaning the alleged scheme could have diverted nearly $23,000.
Salako pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud. The court ordered his 18-month sentence to run concurrently with a previous sentence handed down in Colorado, where he had already been jailed for six and a half years in connection with a separate COVID-19 relief fraud and international money laundering case.
In that earlier case, Salako was also ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
Reacting to the latest conviction, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman praised investigators for stopping the fraud before public funds were stolen.
“Mr. Salako spent considerable time planning and perpetrating his scheme to defraud the Alaska PFD,” Heyman said. “Thanks to the great work of the Alaska Department of Revenue and FBI, he didn’t succeed.”
FBI Anchorage Field Office Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel said the case highlights the government’s determination to protect public benefit programmes from fraud and identity theft.
Officials from the Alaska Department of Revenue also warned that anyone attempting to exploit the state’s dividend system through deception would face prosecution.
