Will County jail booking photos of Jelili Olaniyan (left) and Asia Olaniyan in 2021. (Will County Sheriff's Office)
A Joliet woman and Bolingbrook man have been charged with $91,558 in COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud and one of them has been accused of obtaining a $275,900 loan through identity theft.
In 2021, Asia Olaniyan, 45, of Joliet, and her husband, Jelili Olaniyan, 38, of Bolingbrook, were arrested on suspicions they fraudulently received COVID-19 pandemic and Paycheck Protection Program funds, according to a statement at the time from the Joliet Police Department.
No formal charges were filed against the Olaniyans following their arrest.
That changed on Dec. 11 when warrants were issued for the arrest of the Olaniyans on charges of theft, loan fraud, wire fraud and state benefits fraud.
Jelili Olaniyan hails from Nigeria and has an address listed in Bolingbrook, court records show.
He was further charged with aggravated identity theft for allegedly using personal information from the owner of Virginia health clinic to fraudulently obtain a $275,900 federal loan.
Jeff Tomczak, former Will County state’s attorney, is representing Asia Olaniyan. Retired Will County Judge Dave Carlson is representing Jelili Olaniyan.
The Olaniyans are going through divorce proceedings, court records show.
A criminal complaint alleged Jelili Olaniyan fraudulently obtained $49,936 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and fraudulently obtained $6,528 in state unemployment benefits in the same year.
Asia Olaniyan has been accused of fraudulently obtaining $41,622 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and fraudulently obtaining $22,960 in pandemic unemployment assistance from the state.
Joliet Detective James Kilgore has been a key investigator in allegations of Paycheck Protection Program fraud in Joliet. Kilgore is seen speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Joliet. (Gary Middendorf – gmiddendorf@shawmedia.com/Gary Middendorf)
The case was investigated by the Joliet Police Department.
In 2022, police officials held a news conference on an investigation that led to cases filed against 25 people accused of pandemic fraud.
But the investigation first became known publicly through a forfeiture case filed in 2021 by the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.
In court filings, prosecutors said officers at the Joliet Police Department held a meeting on crime trends and discussed how jail inmates were using “outside sources” to fraudulently obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Prosecutors said the inmates would use the money from those loans to bond out of jail and hire attorneys.
At the 2022 press conference, Joliet Police Chief William Evans said “some of the targets being investigated today were in custody and using jail phones to complete the fraudulent [Paycheck Protection Program] loan process.”
Copyright © 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright © 2023 Shaw Local News Network
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