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October 23, 2019

Nigerian Citizen Sentenced for Scheme to Defraud the United States

On June 28, 2019, in the Western District of Michigan, Nigerian citizen Charles Aghogho Ejinyere was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the United States. Ejinyere was initially indicted for the offense in February 2017 and was later arrested in the United Kingdom, where he was residing. Ejinyere was extradited to the Western District of Michigan, where he pled guilty to the charge in February 2019.

According to the court documents, from at least December 2014 to about February 2016, Ejinyere conspired with others, including codefendant Oghenevwakpo Igboba, to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by knowingly participating in a scheme to obtain Federal income tax refunds by means of fraudulent representations.

As part of the scheme, codefendant Igboba obtained the personally identifiable information (PII) of other individuals and accessed online IRS systems, including eAuthentication and Get Transcript, to obtain additional tax-related information for those individuals. Ejinyere, Igboba, and their coconspirators then filed or caused to be filed, without authorization, fraudulent tax returns with the IRS in the names of the individuals whose PII they had obtained. Ejinyere and Igboba 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. As part of their scheme, Ejinyere and Igboba collectively sought more than $930,000 in fraudulent tax refund claims, and the U.S. Treasury Department paid at least $426,000 in tax refunds based on those false claims.

Codefendant Igboba had previously been sentenced in January 2019 to 162 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. He was further was ordered to pay $514,823 in restitution to the IRS and to forfeit $48,205.

Ejinyere was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $21,856 in restitution to the IRS.

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. Affidavit in Support of Request for Extradition filed Mar. 3, 2017; W.D. Mich. Judgment filed Jan. 31, 2019; W.D. Mich. Plea Agreement filed Feb. 25, 2019; W.D. Mich. Judgment filed July 1, 2019; and W.D. Mich. Crim. Docket as of July 24, 2019.