A Nigerian citizen extradited from the United Kingdom appeared in a U.S. District Court in Seattle on charges related to wire fraud involving stolen tax information. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced that Onomen Uduebor, 38, was arraigned on a three-count indictment for his alleged role in a scheme to misuse income tax data for fraudulent purposes. The indictment, originally filed in 2019, was unsealed during Uduebor's first court appearance where he pleaded not guilty. His trial is set before U.S. District Judge James L. Robart on May 12, 2025.
"This defendant allegedly participated in a conspiracy that involved tricking companies around the United States, including a Tukwila-based company, into providing W-2 information on their employees," said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. "Then the conspirators filed fake tax returns in the employees’ names, claiming large refunds and causing chaos for those whose Social Security numbers had been stolen."
The indictment outlines activities between February 2016 and April 2017, where conspirators used deceptive emails resembling those from company executives to request W-2 data from Human Resources departments. These emails were manipulated so responses would be directed to an email address controlled by the conspirators. The information obtained was then used to file over 300 fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $1 million in refunds.
Uduebor faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud itself, and aggravated identity theft. Wire fraud carries a potential sentence of up to twenty years imprisonment while aggravated identity theft has a mandatory minimum sentence of two years, which must run consecutively with any other sentences.
The charges remain allegations until proven beyond reasonable doubt in court.
The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation leading to these charges. Assistant United States Attorney Miriam Hinman is prosecuting the case against Uduebor who was apprehended in September 2023 in the UK with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs during the extradition process.
