Nigerian national given 8-year sentence for tax business hacks

A hacker who took part in attacks on tax preparation businesses was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay back millions of dollars in damages after pleading guilty to multiple charges. 

Nigerian national Chukwuemeka Amachukwu was extradited from France last year on fraud, hacking and identity theft charges. 

Prosecutors accused Amachukwu of leading a group that used spearphishing emails to breach tax preparation businesses dating back to 2019. 

U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe gave Amachukwu an eight-year sentence as well as one year of supervised release and an order to pay restitution of more than $3.6 million. 

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

Court documents showed Amachukwu worked with Kingsley Uchelue Utulu and other Nigeria-based hackers to break into the tax businesses and steal information on about 800 business customers. 

They used the stolen information to file fraudulent state and federal tax returns and tried to get about $8.4 million in tax refunds — ultimately succeeding in obtaining $2.5 million. 

One incident took place in May 2021, when the men sent a phishing email to an employee of a Manhattan-based tax preparation business, infecting the company with malware. Once inside, the men allegedly stole the tax information of the business’ customers and used it to take a number of fraudulent actions. 

The group also used the information they stole to file claims with the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, earning about $819,000 in fraudulent payouts.

Amachukwu and his group conducted several other fraud schemes that allowed them to steal millions. He earned more than $7 million by impersonating wealthy overseas businessmen and offering fake standby letters of credit to U.S. victims. 

In June, Amachukwu’s co-conspirator Utulu was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the scheme after being arrested in the U.K.