Nigerian Man Sentenced To Eight Years For Hacking, Fraud, And Identity Theft Schemes

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, announced that CHUKWUEMEKA VICTOR AMACHUKWU, a/k/a "Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo," a/k/a "So Kwan Leung," was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe to eight years in prison for his role in multiple fraud, hacking, and identity theft offenses. AMACHUKWU previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

"Chukwuemeka Amachukwu believed he was operating safely offshore when he targeted his victims, but he has now been held to account and now faces a serious sentence for his crimes," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. "Amachukwu took part in sophisticated schemes to hack into U.S. businesses, steal and use stolen identity information of victims, and commit fraud. These crimes imposed significant harm on the victims and the public, and so it is only appropriate that the crimes also come with a significant sentence for the defendant."

According to the Superseding Indictments, public court filings, and statements made in court:

Beginning in at least in or about 2019, AMACHUKWU, his co-conspirator Kinglsey Uchelue Utulu, and other Nigeria-based conspirators took part in a scheme to hack into U.S-based tax preparation businesses. The conspirators utilized spearphishing emails to obtain access to these business's electronic systems. Once they had obtained access, the conspirators stole the tax and other identifying information for at least approximately 800 of the business' customers. The conspirators hacked into several U.S. based tax businesses, located in New York, Texas, and other states.

The conspirators obtained the stolen identity information of thousands of individuals. They used this information to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. The conspirators sought fraudulent refunds of at least approximately $8.4 million, of which they successfully obtained at least approximately $2.5 million.

In addition to filing fraudulent tax returns, the conspirators used the stolen identities to file fraudulent claims with the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The conspirators were able to obtain at least an additional approximately $819,000 in fraudulent payouts.

In addition, AMACHUKWU took part in a fraud scheme in which he offered U.S. victims investments in purportedly valuable standby letters of credit. In the course of this scheme, AMACHUKWU impersonated a wealthy overseas financier in order to fool his victims. In reality, these investments did not exist, and AMACHUKWU and his co-conspirators were able to pocket more than $7 million in fraudulent proceeds.

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In addition to the prison term, AMACHUKWU, 40, of Nigeria, was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in an amount of $3,647,629.39 and forfeiture in the amount of $10,846,634.39.

Mr. McDonald thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its outstanding work.

This case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Nessim is in charge of the prosecution.