A Nigerian man has been sentenced to 40 months in a United States federal prison for his role in a tax fraud scheme that targeted hundreds of victims and sought over $1 million in bogus tax refunds.
Onomen Uduebor, also known as Onomen Onohi, had pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The 39-year-old was arrested in the United Kingdom in September 2023 and extradited to the U.S. earlier this year.
He appeared before a federal judge in Washington state, where he admitted to filing 150 fraudulent tax returns and helping to funnel stolen funds into bank accounts set up in the names of unsuspecting victims.
In court, Uduebor said he was driven by desperation to make it in the music industry. “I have read the victim impact statements, and I know an apology is not enough,” he told the judge. “I was desperate to succeed in my music career. It is not an excuse, but it is the truth.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Uduebor and his co-conspirators carried out the scheme between February 2016 and April 2017 by sending fake emails posing as company executives. These emails tricked human resources departments into handing over employees’ W-2 tax forms, which the group then used to file more than 300 false tax returns.
Although most of the fraudulent claims were blocked, the Internal Revenue Service paid out roughly $140,000. Uduebor said he received $10,000 from the scam. He has been ordered to forfeit that amount and pay $122,720 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said Uduebor played a “substantial role” in the fraud, adding that Uduebor freely participated in the fraud and that he ought to have known better for his age since “thirty years old is not a young man.”
Uduebor is expected to be deported to Nigeria after completing his prison term.