Former building inspector and Nigerian-United State based engineer at the City of St. Louis, Adebanjo Popoola, has confessed to having committed fraud against public funding programs for housing rehabilitation worth about $1.64 million dollars into himself and his relatives.
Popoola, 57, pled guilty to three charges of wire fraud at the United States District Court in St. Louis on Tuesday, confessing to being involved in fraud schemes that took advantage of his supervisory position in two government property rehabilitation projects.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Popoola oversaw some critical steps of the Stable Communities STL project which received funding under the federal American Rescue Plan Act and the Prop NS program, which was funded through City of St. Louis general obligation bonds to rehabilitate housing properties owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority.
Some of the responsibilities he had to perform included selection of properties for rehabilitation, development of project scopes, bid review, contractor approval, inspection and payment authorization.
It is alleged that Popoola privately facilitated the awarding of contracts to two businesses associated with his family. Firstly, one business firm, Farst Construction LLC, was registered in Missouri by Popoola’s sister, who was a Texan but had never visited St. Louis. Secondly, another company known as Premier Finish Contractors LLC was set up by Popoola’s fiancée.
In the period between June 2023 and November 2024, Farst Construction managed to receive about $1.4 million worth of contracts in the Stable Communities STL program and also about $339,500 in the Prop NS program.
Moreover, Premier Finish Contractors LLC also got about $1.3 million in Stable Communities STL contracts and approximately $853,100 in Prop NS contracts within the same period.
It was established that the two companies received 42 per cent of the funds allocated by the Stable Communities STL project, receiving in total about $3.32 million out of the $7.19 million allocated to the project.
The rehabilitation efforts were not always successful since several of them failed to be completed on time even though Popoola had certified them as completed.
Following payments to the subcontractors, prosecutors claimed that Popoola, his wife, and his sister had been sharing more than $1.64 million in public funds, which was deposited into accounts managed jointly by the former inspector and his family members.
According to court documents, Popoola spent the ill-gotten gains on paying mortgage payments for his house, purchasing and repairing cars, traveling abroad, getting married in Hawaii in September 2023, gambling at casinos and spending on eating out among other entertaining activities.
Moreover, the former inspector stated in court that he hid his financial interests in the companies by lying in the forms completed by city employees in 2022 and 2023 stating that he had no business or contractual interests in connection to the City of St. Louis.
Prosecutors also said that Popoola’s wife and his sister signed the contract documents indicating that there were no financial ties between any city official engaged in administering the contracts and the contracts themselves.
Popoola is set for sentencing on October 6. The penalty for each charge of wire fraud is a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine of up to $250,000 or both. Popoola will be required to refund the money he stole.
The investigation was spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted by the Comptroller’s Office of the City of St. Louis while Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith handles the prosecution of the case.