A United States court has sentenced a 40-year-old Nigerian, Chukwuemeka Amachukwu, to eight years in prison for his involvement in cybercrime, identity theft and fraud schemes involving millions of dollars.
Amachukwu, who also goes by the names Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung, was sentenced by US District Judge Paul G. Gardephe after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, released on Monday, Amachukwu and his associates began targeting American tax preparation companies in 2019 through spear-phishing emails designed to gain unauthorised access to their computer systems.
The group allegedly stole tax records and other personal information belonging to approximately 800 customers of several businesses in New York, Texas and other states.
The stolen information was subsequently used to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies.
Prosecutors said the conspirators sought refunds totalling at least $8.4m and successfully obtained approximately $2.5m.
The group also exploited stolen identities to submit fraudulent applications to the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme, securing at least $819,000 in illicit payments.
In another fraud scheme, Amachukwu allegedly deceived victims into investing in purportedly valuable standby letters of credit, presenting himself as a wealthy foreign financier.
Investigators said the investment opportunities were fictitious and that Amachukwu and his co-conspirators collected more than $7m from victims through the scheme.
Reacting to the sentence, United States Attorney Jamie McDonald said the defendant had participated in sophisticated criminal operations that caused substantial harm.
“Amachukwu took part in sophisticated schemes to hack into U.S. businesses, steal and use stolen identity information of victims, and commit fraud,” McDonald said.
“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,” he added.
Beyond the eight-year prison sentence, the court ordered Amachukwu to serve one year of supervised release after completing his term.
He was also directed to pay $3,647,629.39 in restitution to compensate victims and forfeit $10,846,634.39.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted in the investigation, while Assistant US Attorney Daniel G. Nessim prosecuted the case.
