ST. LOUIS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Tuesday sentenced a former City of St. Louis building inspector to six years in prison and ordered him to repay the $1.64 million he stole from programs meant to repair decrepit buildings in St. Louis.
Adebanjo “Banjo” Popoola, 58, was a building division inspector with the City of St. Louis and was responsible for managing important aspects of two programs designed to help stabilize and rehabilitate city properties, Stable Communities STL and Prop NS.
In in a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith wrote, “This is a case of greed, plain and simple." Popoola “abused his longstanding and substantial position of trust with the City of St. Louis in order to enrich himself and his family members.” Popoola “destroyed two well-intentioned local and federal funded programs meant to stabilize decaying and debilitating properties within the City,” Goldsmith said.
Stable Communities STL was funded through federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and intended for privately-owned properties. Prop NS was intended for residential properties owned by the City’s Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) and was funded through general obligation bonds. Popoola was primarily responsible for identifying properties for rehab or stabilization; developing the scope of work; seeking, reviewing and awarding bids; inspecting the work that had purportedly been completed on each property and certifying that the work had been completed so funds could be disbursed to the contractors.
Popoola steered 41 contracts to Farst Construction LLC, a company he helped organize with his sister, a nurse living in Texas with no background or experience in construction. He directed 50 contracts to Premier Finish Contractors LLC, a company he helped his fiancée organize. Popoola “was so bold as to give 42% of the total funds disbursed under the City’s Stable Communities STL program to his sister’s and his wife’s companies,” Goldsmith wrote. Popoola concealed his role in the companies from the city and his sister and his fiancée (later wife) concealed their connection to Popoola. On multiple projects, Farst and Premier failed to perform the rehabilitation and stabilization work for which the companies were paid but Popoola falsely certified that the work had been performed completely and properly.
Popoola and his family members reaped $1,642,908 from the scheme. Popoola spent the stolen money on residential mortgage payments, multiple vehicle purchases and repairs, travel expenses, his September 2023 wedding in Hawaii, casino gambling and other dining and entertainment expenses.
The owner of a building on Rowan Avenue in the Hamilton heights neighborhood wrote in
a victim impact statement to the court that Popoola’s theft of $48,500 in repair funds left a building “with severe, unaddressed structural decay that was actively masked by fraudulent building inspection reports… imposing an immense, unexpected financial burden on me as an independent developer.”
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said in her own statement that the city may have to return millions of dollars in ARPA funds because of Popoola’s crimes. Innocent contractors were harmed when the city froze payments during the investigation, which also halted other stabilization work, including buildings damaged by the May 2025 tornado.
Popoola, 57, pleaded guilty in June in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud.
“As a building inspector, Banjo Popoola stole more than $1.64 million in taxpayer dollars intended to stabilize and rebuild St. Louis neighborhoods. While families were left living next to deteriorating and unsafe buildings, he diverted those funds to finance his Hawaiian wedding, pay his mortgage, and cover personal expenses,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “The damage caused by this kind of corruption extends far beyond the theft of taxpayer money. When building inspectors compromise their responsibility to enforce safety standards for personal financial gain, they put entire communities and the lives of those residents at risk.”
The FBI investigated the case, with substantial cooperation from the City of St. Louis Comptroller’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case.
