French authorities extradited a 39-year-old Nigerian national to the United States Monday for allegedly hacking into tax preparation businesses and participating in a years-long conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies.
Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu and his Nigeria-based co-conspirators, including Kinglsey Uchelue Utulu, are accused of obtaining about $2.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds from 2019 to 2023, the Justice Department said Tuesday. The conspirators sought fraudulent tax refunds of at least $8.4 million, according to prosecutors.
“Amachukwu allegedly operated multiple illicit fraud schemes — identity theft, computer intrusions via spearphishing, and false investments — profiting at the costs of others,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia said in a statement.
Prosecutors accuse Amachukwu and his co-conspirators of accessing computer systems of tax preparation businesses in New York, Texas and other states via spearphishing emails. The cybercrime crew allegedly filed false tax returns with federal and state authorities using identities stolen from the victim organizations.
In one of those attacks, in May 2021, members of the conspiracy sent a spearfishing email to an employee of a New York-based tax preparation business, which infected the firm’s computer systems with malware, according to an unsealed indictment.
Authorities said Amachukwu and his co-conspirators also used the stolen identities to file fraudulent claims with the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, obtaining at least $819,000 in payouts.
Amachukwu faces up to 47 years in prison for multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Amachukwu also allegedly took part in a separate fraud scheme that promised his victims valuable investments that did not in fact exist,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. Officials said Amachukwu stole millions of dollars of his victims’ money from this scheme.
The FBI, Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Marshals Service assisted the investigation, which led to Amachukwu’s arrest and extradition from France.
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