Benin Man Convicted in Pennsylvania of Using Stolen IDs to File Tax Returns Seeking M

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 31, 2017



Benin Man Convicted in Pennsylvania of Using Stolen IDs to File Tax Returns Seeking More Than $800,000 in Refunds

Used Prepaid Debit Cards and Western Union to Send Fraudulent Refunds to Nigeria

A Republic of Benin man unlawfully residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was convicted today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania of conspiring to commit access device fraud, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Louis D. Lappen for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

According to the indictment and evidence at trial, from February through June 2014, Abdou Koudos Adissa was engaged in a conspiracy in which stolen identities were used to file tax returns claiming refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Co-conspirators filed tax returns fraudulently seeking more than $800,000 in refunds, which were loaded onto Green Dot prepaid debit cards and sent via Western Union to Nigeria. In order for the prepaid debit cards to accept direct deposits, they had to be registered using personal identifying information including names, social security numbers and addresses. During a search of the apartment Adissa shared with a co-conspirator, special agents found 106 Green Dot cards in Adissa’s room. Adissa registered the Green Dot cards using stolen IDs and provided his co-conspirators with the direct deposit information related to the cards so that fraudulently obtained refunds could be directed to them. to the evidence produced at trial, he called Western Union 63 times in three months to facilitate transferring these fraudulent refunds to Nigeria.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 28. Adissa faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. Adissa is pending immigration removal proceedings.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Lappen commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Ignall and Trial Attorney Carl F. Brooker of the Tax Division who prosecuted the case.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/<acronym title="Google Page Ranking"><acronym title="Google Page Ranking">pr</acronym></acronym>/benin-man-convicted-pennsylvania-using-stolen-ids-file-tax-returns-seeking-more-800000

by JOHN BINDER
29 Sep 2017
Washington, D.C.

An illegal alien living in the sanctuary city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced for stealing Americans’ identities to collect more than $800,000 in tax refunds.

Abdou Koudos Adissa, an illegal alien from the Republican of Benin, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for his part in a tax fraud scheme, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

According to court records, Adissa was convicted of conspiring to commit access device fraud in March for his involvement in the tax scheme that ran from February to June 2014. During that time, Adissa was a part of a group that stole Americans’ identities to file tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

Adissa’s co-conspirators filed the fraudulent tax returns, stealing more than $800,000 in refunds which was then deposited onto Green Dot pre-paid debit accounts. That money was eventually sent to Nigeria through Western Union.

When federal officials raided Adissa’s apartment in Philadelphia, they found 106 of the Green Dot cards. The illegal alien registered all the debit cards using stolen American IDs before giving co-conspirators the cards’ direct deposit information so they would be able to direct the fraudulent tax refunds to the cards.

Adissa called Western Union some 63 times to transfer the stolen $800,000 to Nigeria.

Following Adissa’s release from federal prison, he will be handed over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for deportation.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...k-tax-refunds/