- frankieleon / Foter / CC BY
(From the office of the US Attorney for Delaware)
James Ekeke, age 26, of Smyrna, GA was sentenced by Leonard P. Stark, United States District Judge for Delaware, to 54 months in prison and full restitution for a $4 million identity theft scheme that also involved a Newark man.
Ekeke earlier pleaded guilty to the charges. The defendant is a citizen of Nigeria, and faces deportation when he is out of prison.
According to court filings and statements at the sentencing hearing, the defendant and his co-conspirators attempted to get more than $4 million in funds from the United States Department of Treasury, through the filing of false tax returns.
Ekeke was responsible for purchasing and supplying more than 600 stolen identities to others and personally filed many fraudulent tax returns.
The Department of Treasury lost more than $1.2 million in taxpayer funds, and the hundreds of people whose identities were used suffered the compromise of their personal information. Judge Stark remarked, “The losses to the identity theft victims are hard to quantify.”
The defendant began his activities within months of entering the United States and he continued to participate in tax fraud after one of his co-conspirators was arrested, prosecutors said. After the arrest of and conviction of co-conspirator, Festus Frimpong, the defendant changed his telephone number and his internet router, before filing more false tax returns in 2014.
Also co-conspirator Victor Kwabenda Adofo Asante, a.k.a.Victor Asante, 25, formerly of Newark, DE, pled guilty to violations related to the scheme. He will be sentenced on October 1.
Asante faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and 5 years of supervised release.
