US court jails Nigerian eight years, orders $10.8m forfeiture

A 40-year-old Nigerian, Chukwuemeka Amachukwu, has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the United States for his role in hacking, identity theft and fraud schemes involving millions of dollars.

Amachukwu, also known as Chukwuemeka Victor Eletuo and So Kwan Leung, was sentenced by US District Judge Paul G. Gardephe, according to a statement issued by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Monday.

He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The statement said Amachukwu and his co-conspirators, including Kingsley Uchelue Utulu, began hacking US tax preparation businesses in 2019 using spear-phishing emails to gain access to their electronic systems.

They allegedly stole tax and other personal information belonging to about 800 customers of several businesses in New York, Texas and other states.

The stolen identities were subsequently used to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities.

The conspirators sought refunds totalling at least $8.4m and successfully obtained at least $2.5m, according to the statement.

They also used the stolen identities to submit fraudulent applications to the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme, obtaining at least `$819,000 in illicit payments.

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In a separate scheme, Amachukwu offered US victims investments in purportedly valuable standby letters of credit, impersonating a wealthy foreign financier to convince them to invest.

The investments did not exist, and Amachukwu and his co-conspirators obtained more than $`7m from the scheme, the statement said.

United States Attorney Jamie McDonald said Amachukwu had believed he could operate beyond the reach of US authorities.

“Amachukwu took part in sophisticated schemes to hack into U.S. businesses, steal and use stolen identity information of victims, and commit fraud.

“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,” McDonald said.

In addition to the eight-year prison term, Amachukwu was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,647,629.39 in restitution.

He was also ordered to forfeit $10,846,634.39.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted in the investigation, while Assistant US Attorney Daniel G. Nessim handled the prosecution.