A Nigerian citizen, Onomen Uduebor, was arraigned in the U.S. District Court in Seattle following his extradition from the United Kingdom. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced that Uduebor faces charges related to a scheme involving stolen tax information for fraudulent purposes. The 2019 indictment, which includes three counts, was unsealed at Uduebor's first court appearance where he pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for May 12, 2025, before Judge James L. Robart.
“This defendant allegedly participated in a conspiracy that involved tricking companies around the United States, including a Tukwila-based company, into providing W-2 information on their employees," stated Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. "Then the conspirators filed fake tax returns in the employees’ names, claiming large refunds and causing chaos for those whose Social Security numbers had been stolen.”
The indictment details activities between February 2016 and April 2017 where conspirators created deceptive emails mimicking company executives to obtain W-2 data from human resources departments across various companies in the United States. This information was then used to file over 300 fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $1 million in refunds.
Uduebor faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud itself, and aggravated identity theft. The wire fraud charges carry a potential sentence of up to twenty years imprisonment while aggravated identity theft mandates a minimum two-year sentence consecutive to any other penalties.
It is important to note that these charges are allegations and under legal principles, an individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) with prosecution led by Assistant United States Attorney Miriam Hinman. The arrest took place in September 2023 in the UK with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs during extradition proceedings.