Pair Sentenced in Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

LAREDO, Texas – Two Texas men have been ordered to prison following their convictions for conspiring to fraudulently claim federal income tax refunds using stolen identity information, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Rick Goss of IRS-Criminal Investigation. Sunday Quincy Usoh, 47, of Dallas, and Jeffery Wahab Jubril, 43, of Killeen, pleaded guilty May 17, 2016.

“These international thieves and their cohorts tried to get away with a major identity theft tax scheme designed to steal amounts in the millions of dollars from the American taxpayers,” said Goss. “CI agents use special investigative techniques to follow a crimes’ money trail, wherever it takes them, back to the perpetrator. Now, with today’s sentencing, these defendants will begin paying the price for stealing from the taxpayers.”

Today, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo ordered Usoh to serve a total of 96 months in federal prison, while Jubril was sentenced to a 52-month-term of imprisonment. Both men will also serve three years of supervised release following completion of their prison terms. The court further ordered they pay more than $265,000 in restitution. At the hearing, additional evidence was presented including the impact that the victims had suffered as the result of the crimes. In handing down the sentences, Judge Marmolejo said the hearing was about an appropriate and just punishment for the defendants’ behavior. The judge increased each man’s prison sentence, telling them that the recommendations provided to the court did not begin to adequately address all of the harm that they had caused the victims in the case.

From February through September 2015, Usoh and Jubril conspired to use stolen personal identifying information to file fraudulent tax returns claiming more than $1.8 million in refunds. They arranged for the refunds to be direct deposited into one of more than 25 bank accounts they had opened in cities across Texas, including Killeen, Odessa, Midland and Del Rio. The U.S. Treasury paid out more than more than $675,000 before the scheme was discovered. At least 230 taxpayers were the victims of identity theft as a result of the pair’s scheme.

Both men will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

IRS - Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Eaton is prosecuting the case.