Castro Valley man sentenced for obtaining $1.6M in COVID scheme

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. - A Castro Valley man was sentenced to 2½ years in prison after he pleaded guilty to spending more than $1.6 million in unemployment benefits that belonged to other people during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Northern California. 

U.S. District Court Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. sentenced Idowu Hashim Shittu, 48, on Aug. 18. 

According to his plea agreement, from at least April through July 2020, Shittu obtained reloadable debit cards issued in the names of other people and to use the cards for his personal use. 

As part of his plea, Shittu acknowledged that the real losses might have totaled $3.5 million, prosecutors said. 

The money was part of the CARES Act, when the federal government authorized the payment of hundreds of billions of dollars in unemployment benefits to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cards, called "Green Dot Cards," contained unemployment benefits distributed by various state agencies. 

Shittu used those cards that were issued to three different people —all residents of the state of Washington. For example, he charged about $1,000 at a Walmart store in San Jose and made other cash withdrawals from Walmart stores in Hayward and San Leandro. He also used someone else's car to pay for service to his BMW 5-series automobile.

"He stole benefits intended to assist those who became unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic," Quentin Heiden, Special Agent-in-Charge, Western Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said in a statement. "This sentencing demonstrates that those who defraud the UI program will be held accountable. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate those who exploit these benefit programs."

In July 2020, law enforcement officers searched Shittu’s home and found over $500,000 in cash split between a plastic container in a garage and a backpack under a bathroom sink. 

Officers also found over 400 Green Dot Cards issued to other people. The Green Dot Cards were loaded with over $1.6 million in unemployment benefits from various state agencies.