A United States-based Nigerian engineer and former building inspector with the City of St. Louis, Adebanjo Popoola, has pleaded guilty to diverting about $1.64 million in public funds meant for rehabilitating dilapidated buildings into bank accounts belonging to himself and his family members.
Popoola, 57, admitted to three counts of wire fraud before the U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Popoola managed key aspects of two city-funded rehabilitation programmes—Stable Communities STL and Prop NS—while serving as a building division inspector.
Stable Communities STL was financed through the federal American Rescue Plan Act to renovate privately owned properties, while Prop NS focused on restoring residential properties owned by the City of St. Louis’ Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) using city-issued bonds.
As part of his responsibilities, Popoola identified buildings for rehabilitation, prepared project scopes, reviewed and awarded contracts, inspected completed work, and approved payments to contractors.
Prosecutors said Popoola used his position to orchestrate a fraudulent scheme involving two companies linked to his relatives. His sister, who lives in Texas and had never visited St. Louis, registered Farst Construction LLC in Missouri in October 2022, while his future wife established Premier Finish Contractors LLC in February 2021.
Between June 2023 and November 2024, Farst Construction secured about $1.4 million in Stable Communities STL contracts and an additional $339,500 under the Prop NS programme. Premier Finish Contractors also received roughly $1.3 million in Stable Communities STL contracts and about $853,100 in Prop NS contracts between October 2023 and May 2024.
Authorities revealed that Farst Construction and Premier Finish Contractors together received more than 42 per cent of the $7.19 million disbursed through the Stable Communities STL programme.
Investigators found that several projects for which the companies received payment were either left unfinished or were not completed according to required standards, despite Popoola certifying that the work had been properly executed.
After subcontractors were paid, prosecutors said Popoola, his wife and his sister shared approximately $1.64 million in public funds. The money was deposited into joint bank accounts held by Popoola and his wife, as well as accounts he shared with his sister.
Court documents showed that the diverted funds were spent on mortgage payments, vehicle purchases and repairs, travel, the couple’s Hawaii wedding in September 2023, casino gambling, dining and other personal entertainment expenses.
Popoola also admitted concealing his financial interests by falsely declaring in City Employee Secondary Employment Questionnaires filed in 2022 and 2023 that he had no personal stake in any city contracts or businesses.
His wife and sister were also accused of falsely certifying on contract documents that no City of St. Louis official involved in the projects had any direct or indirect private interest in the contracts.
Popoola is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6. Each wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. He is also expected to repay the misappropriated funds.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with support from the City of St. Louis Comptroller’s Office, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is leading the prosecution.
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