Kingsley Utulu, a Nigerian citizen, has been sentenced to five years and three months in a U.S. prison for his role in a cyber fraud operation that defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and private individuals of over $2.5 million.
The sentencing was announced by Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Christopher Raia, Assistant Director of the FBI’s New York Field Office.
Utulu had previously entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors revealed that Utulu was a key member of a cybercriminal group that infiltrated U.S.-based tax preparation companies, stealing confidential personal data used to submit fraudulent tax filings.
The extensive fraud operation, which began in 2019, involved sending deceptive emails to employees of tax firms in various states, including New York and Texas. These emails granted the hackers unauthorized access to client data.
Court documents indicate that the criminals aimed to claim at least $8.4 million in fraudulent tax refunds and successfully obtained approximately $2.5 million. Furthermore, they filed bogus applications with the Small Business Administration under the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan initiative, securing an additional $819,000.
Utulu, 38, was apprehended in the United Kingdom and subsequently extradited to the United States to face justice. In addition to his prison sentence, the court ordered him to pay restitution totaling approximately $3.68 million and to forfeit over $290,000.
This case underscores ongoing international efforts to combat cybercrime. Earlier this year, two other Nigerian nationals, Olutayo Ogunlaja and Abel Daramola, were convicted in the U.S. for their involvement in a $560,000 romance scam and could face sentences of up to 20 years in federal prison.
