Two men from Toronto face prosecution abroad after stealing more than two million dollars from the US government.

Sakiro Olanrewaju Ambali and Fatiou Ismaila Lawal, both 45 years old, were arrested in February last year – Ambali by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in Frankfurt, Germany, while on their way home to Toronto, and Lawal by the Toronto Police Department.

According to the US Attorney's Office, the two men used thousands of stolen identities of American workers to submit over 1700 claims for pandemic unemployment benefits, and the police said the accused submitted "about 900 claims" to more than 25 different US states using 13 Google accounts and four cards and an estimated 800 different email addresses.

In total, the claims sought about 25 million US dollars, and the accused allegedly obtained 2.4 million US dollars.

The police said some of the money was then sent to cash cards or individuals specialized in transferring funds according to instructions, while some was deposited into bank accounts allegedly created using stolen identities.

The authorities confirmed that the accused were residing in Toronto at the time of their arrest, although they are Nigerian citizens.

On December 18, Ambali, who was extradited to the United States after his arrest, pleaded guilty to charges of cyber fraud and aggravated identity theft; he admitted personally submitting at least 620 claims for unemployment benefits that paid more than one million US dollars between March 2020 and December 2021.

As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to pay $1,035,107 US dollars.

Sentencing for Ambali is scheduled for March 14 by US District Judge Robert J. Bryan. The prosecution will recommend a five-year prison sentence, according to the attorney’s office.

Lawal was arrested in Toronto and is currently awaiting extradition. He last appeared in the Superior Court on Wednesday.

According to data provided by the US Small Business Administration in June, more than 200 billion US dollars may have been stolen from two of the country's COVID-19 relief initiatives.

The report by the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration indicated that at least 17 percent of the total funds disbursed through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs and Paycheck Protection Program could have gone to fraudulent entities.

The report estimated that more than 136 billion US dollars were defrauded from the EIDL program, representing 33 percent of the total funds spent on that program. It said the estimated fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program is 64 billion US dollars.