A federal jury in the United States has found a Nigerian resident of Georgia, Festus Anyiam, guilty of multiple fraud-related offences linked to a tax refund scheme that used stolen identities to obtain government funds.
Anyiam, 41, was convicted on June 5 after a week-long trial, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday.
The jury found him guilty of four counts of theft of government funds and one count of money laundering arising from a scheme involving fraudulent tax refund claims.
Prosecutors said personal information belonging to taxpayers in Illinois and Missouri was used in 2015 to file fake tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, leading to the issuance of tax refunds.
The funds were reportedly transferred through a tax software company onto prepaid debit cards opened with stolen identities. Investigators said the cards were later used for purchases at retail outlets across the Atlanta area.
According to the authorities, Anyiam deposited large sums of the fraud proceeds into his personal bank account through ATM transactions between June and July 2015.
He was also accused of attempting to conceal the origin of the funds by purchasing a cashier’s cheque worth $406,000 and moving the money into another account.
U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said the defendant sought to disguise the proceeds of the fraud through a series of financial transactions but was eventually traced by investigators.
Officials of the IRS Criminal Investigation unit described the verdict as a major victory in efforts to combat tax-related crimes.
Anyiam is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10, 2026, before Judge Mark H. Cohen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Diaspora NG reports that he faces up to 10 years imprisonment on each theft count and a maximum of 20 years on the money laundering charge.
