
A 35-year-old Nigerian man identified as Emmanuel Kazeem, who reportedly masterminded a conspiracy to obtain millions in refunds from the Internal Revenue Service was sentenced on Wednesday in Eugene, Oregon.
The Nigerian man who had previously been convicted him of fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, was sentenced in Oregon to 15 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors say the 35-year-old purchased more than 91,000 identities from a Vietnamese hacker that originated from an Oregon company’s private database. They were used to file fraudulent tax returns in an attempt to get refunds.
In total, the Nigerian man was linked to 10,139 tax returns that tried to get more than $91 million in refunds. He successfully received $11.6 million. Prosecutors say Kazeem used the ill-gotten gains to buy two houses in the U.S. and attempted to develop a four-star hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.



























