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March 27, 2019

Michigan Man Sentenced to More Than 13 Years in Prison for Scheme to Defraud the IRS

On January 29, 2019, in the Western District of Michigan, Oghenevwakpo Igboba was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, false claims, and aggravated identity theft. Igboba was initially indicted for the offenses and arrested by special agents of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in February 2017.

According to the court documents, from at least December 2014 to about February 2016, Igboba conspired with others to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by knowingly devising and participating in a scheme to obtain income tax refunds by means of fraudulent representations. Igboba coordinated the conspiracy, which involved at least five participants, including his father, his sister, codefendant Charles Aghogho Ejinyere, and other individuals

As part of the scheme, Igboba and his coconspirators obtained personally identifiable information (PII), including the names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security Numbers, and familial information of numerous unrelated individuals. Using that PII, Igboba and others illegally accessed online IRS systems, including eAuthentication and Get Transcript, to obtain additional tax-related information for the individuals. They then filed or caused to be filed without authorization fraudulent tax returns with the IRS in the names of the individuals. Igboba and coconspirator Ejinyere directed refunds from the fraudulent returns to be deposited into bank and credit union accounts belonging to Igboba, his businesses, his family members, associates, and unwitting accomplices.

In September 2018, a jury found Igboba guilty of 18 counts of the 22-count indictment. The intended loss for the fraudulent tax refunds totaled more than $4 million.

Igboba was sentenced to 162 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. He was further ordered to pay $514,823 in restitution to the IRS and to forfeit $48,205.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: W.D. Mich. Indict. filed Feb. 7, 2017; W.D. Mich. Govt. Trial Brief filed Apr. 6, 2018; W.D. Mich. Verdict Form filed Sep. 17, 2018; W.D. Mich. Govt. Sentencing Memorandum filed Jan. 23, 2019; W.D. Mich. Judgment filed Jan. 31, 2019; W.D. Mich. Crim. Docket as of Feb. 5, 2019.