Two Nigerian men, Akinade Raheem and Abayomi Eletu, are facing 50 years in prison each for an alleged multiple tax fraud scheme involving stolen identities to steal more than $100m from the Internal Revenue Service in the United States.
In a statement by the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Raheem and Eletu allegedly conspired with their accomplices to claim fraudulent tax refunds by impersonating accountants and taxpayers.
They allegedly filed more than 300 false tax returns claiming over $100m in refunds from the IRS, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and other crimes.
Raheem, 43, and Eletu, 42, residents of the US and the United Kingdom, respectively, obtained identifying information for tax experts and taxpayers between 2018 and 2023.
They used the information, including names, addresses and social security numbers, to generate online accounts with the IRS and request private taxpayer information.
Both defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
While Eletu was also charged with five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, seven counts of access device fraud and 21 counts of aggravated identity theft, Raheem was charged with 14 counts of access device fraud and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft.
“The defendants face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 20 years for money laundering and 10 years for access device fraud, as well as a mandatory sentence of two years for aggravated identity theft,” the statement read.
According to the report, indictments were unsealed in the Northern District of Georgia and the Western District of Texas concerning them.
As part of the scheme, they allegedly changed taxpayers’ addresses to addresses controlled by co-conspirators so the IRS would correspond with the co-conspirators instead of the taxpayers.
They allegedly laundered some of the funds by purchasing money orders from US postal offices and local stores in amounts low enough to avoid reporting thresholds when refunds were deposited into prepaid debit cards.
They also used the money orders to purchase used cars from auction sites, some of which they shipped to Nigeria, as well as designer clothing and other items.
Eletu was arrested in the UK at the request of US authorities.
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