Nigerian Man Charged in $100 Million Refund Scheme

Akinade Adedeji Raheem, a Nigerian citizen who lived in Atlanta, faces federal charges in an alleged scheme to steal more than $100 million in tax refunds. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said he was extradited from Benin to the United States last week after his arrest by local authorities there.

Investigators say Raheem and Abayomi Quadri Eletu, who resides in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, worked with others to obtain hundreds of taxpayer identities. The group set up online accounts with the IRS and requested private information, then filed more than 300 fake tax returns seeking large refunds, according to prosecutors.

The refunds were split onto prepaid debit cards, which were shipped across the country and laundered through money orders and other purchases, investigators say. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said the group obtained hundreds of stolen identities, filed fraudulent returns with that data, and moved the proceeds through prepaid cards and purchases of used cars shipped to Nigeria and other locations. "The scope of the alleged fraud is staggering," Hertzberg said.

A federal grand jury in Georgia indicted Raheem in February on one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, 14 counts of access device fraud, and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft. Law enforcement agencies tried to arrest him in April but did not locate him. A week after that attempt, officials say, Raheem booked a flight from Mexico City to Benin, where he was arrested.

Eletu was arrested in the United Kingdom and is in custody there awaiting extradition to the United States. Raheem is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Conviction on the charges carries a potential prison term of decades.