A 40-year-old Nigerian man, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu, has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the United States for hacking American tax preparation businesses, stealing identities and defrauding investors.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the sentence on Monday, saying Amachukwu had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
US District Judge Paul G. Gardephe also ordered him to serve one year of supervised release, pay $3.64m in restitution and forfeit $10.85m.
According to court filings, Amachukwu and his co-conspirators, including Kingsley Uchelue Utulu, began targeting US tax preparation businesses in 2019 through spear-phishing emails designed to gain access to their computer systems.
The group allegedly stole tax and personal identification information belonging to customers of businesses in New York, Texas and other states. At least 800 customers of the targeted firms were affected, while the conspirators obtained identity information belonging to thousands of people.
Prosecutors said the stolen information was used to submit fraudulent tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities, seeking refunds totalling about $8.4m. The group successfully obtained at least $2.5m.
The conspirators also used stolen identities to submit fraudulent applications to the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme, securing an additional $819,000, according to the prosecution.
In a separate scheme, Amachukwu offered victims investments in purportedly valuable standby letters of credit, posing as a wealthy foreign financier to persuade them to invest.
The investment opportunities did not exist, prosecutors said, adding that Amachukwu and his associates obtained more than $7m through the scheme.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald said the sentence held Amachukwu accountable for cybercrime and fraud that caused significant harm to victims and the public.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted in the investigation, while Assistant US Attorney Daniel G. Nessim handled the prosecution.
Amachukwu was identified by prosecutors as also using the names Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung.
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