Nigerian and Georgia Men Charged in Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Scheme that Sought Over $100 Million from the IRS

ATLANTA - Indictments have been unsealed in the Northern District of Georgia and the Western District of Texas charging a Georgia man, Akinade Adedeji Raheem, and a resident of the United Kingdom and Nigeria, Abayomi Quadri Eletu, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and other crimes arising out of a scheme to defraud the IRS using stolen identities.

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Akinade Adedeji Raheem and Abayomi Quadri Eletu conspired together and with others to claim fraudulent tax refunds using the stolen identities of accountants and taxpayers. Over the course of their scheme, the co-conspirators allegedly filed more than 300 false tax returns claiming over $100 million in refunds from the IRS.

Between 2018 and 2023, Eletu, Raheem and others allegedly obtained identifying information for tax professionals and taxpayers, including their names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, by creating online accounts with the IRS and requesting private taxpayer information. As part of the scheme, they changed the addresses of taxpayers to an address controlled by the co-conspirators, so the IRS would correspond with the co-conspirators instead of the taxpayers. They also submitted "change of address" requests to the U.S. Postal Service to cause the mail of some taxpayers to be forwarded to a co-conspirator's address. Using the personal identifying information of others, Eletu, Raheem and their co-conspirators electronically filed tax returns claiming fraudulent refunds, then allegedly directed the IRS to split the refunds among several prepaid debit cards. Before issuing some of these tax refunds, the IRS sent verification letters to the addresses controlled by the co-conspirators, who, pretending to be the taxpayers, fraudulently verified the taxpayers' identities and instructed the IRS to release the refunds.

Eletu allegedly directed Raheem and others to obtain prepaid debit cards to receive the anticipated fraudulent tax refunds. Once the refunds were deposited onto the prepaid debit cards, they laundered some of the funds by purchasing, among other things, money orders from U.S. Postal Offices and local stores in amounts low enough to avoid reporting thresholds. 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.

Akinade Adedeji Raheem, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Abayomi Quadri Eletu, 42, of the United Kingdom and Nigeria, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 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 is also 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.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg of the Northern District of Georgia and Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration are investigating the case. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in this matter. The United States also thanks the United Kingdom for its valuable assistance in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce of the Northern District of Georgia and Senior Litigation Counsel Michael C. Boteler and Trial Attorney Michael Jones of the Criminal Division's Tax Section are prosecuting the cases. The U.S. Attorney's Office from the Western District of Texas has provided substantial assistance to the investigation.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.